2015-09-19 By Robbin Laird

© 2015 FrontLine Defence (Vol 12, No 4)

The British invented carrier warfare – and now, with their new Queen Elizabeth Class of carriers, they are working their own version of the 21st century strike carrier.

Using global lessons learned, they are reinventing the large deck carrier based on the confluence of a number of technologies (some similar to the USS Gerald Ford – CVN-78) and the impact of the F-35B (similar in some ways to the USS America).

Construction of the most complex warship ever built in the UK has reportedly sustained more than 7,000 jobs at more than 100 companies across the country.

The Royal Navy is currently preparing for sea trials in 2016, and flight trials with Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter aircraft after that.

In late March 2015, I had a chance to visit the first of class of the new generation British carrier, Her Majesty’s Ship Queen Elizabeth, and also passed by the rapidly emerging Prince of Wales, which is next in line. The day after the tour, I sat down with Royal Navy and Air Force senior personnel to discuss the way ahead from an operational point of view.

The first thing you notice when you get onboard is how large the flight deck is. I was told it is approximately 90% of the size of a Nimitz Class carrier (which is the largest warship in the world).

The second thing you notice are the two islands aboard the ship.

This is due to the fact that it is not a nuclear carrier and the exhausts for the engines exit on two parts of the flight deck – with an island incorporating those exit points. The forward island is used to operate the ship; and the aft island runs flight deck operations. In a crisis, either can perform both tasks, but in visiting the two islands, it is clear that the designers have focused on ways to enhance the work flow for the two different tasks, namely running the ship and operating the aircraft aboard the flight deck.

HMS Queen Elizabeth is a cross between the notion of a large deck amphibious assault ship, like the USS America, and a strike carrier, like CVN-78 or the USS Gerald Ford (when commissioned).

The ship is designed to handle 40 aircraft: fighters, helicopters, and possibly Ospreys in the future. The current plan is for 24 F-35Bs, 8 ASW helicopters and 5 Crowsnest surveillance systems off of modified Merlin helicopters.

The design emphasizes flexibility, with accommodation for 250 Royal Marines and the ability to support them with attack helicopters and troop transports up to Chinook size and larger. In addition to the innovative JSF F-35B, the Royal Navy will add a new airborne command post to the deck, which will be available for a multiplicity of tasks in ship defense.

With the F-35B, the strike concept will be different from that of the U.S. Navy and its large deck carriers.

As an RAF officer put it: “The plane is so easy to fly, we will focus on getting the maximum effects from the strike force, and not have to focus as much attention to flight choreography as one has to do with legacy aircraft.”

The focus is clearly on effects generated from an aircraft carried designed for 24/7 operation.

The F-35B launched from the carriers are part of the picture; the very significant Command and Control capabilities aboard the ship are another. With the carrier afloat, the RAF is looking to build synergy among the various land based and carrier based aircraft to generate combat effects.

As one Royal Navy officer put it: “The strike force could be commanded from the ship, from the ground or from the air. We are building flexible C2 to get maximum combat value from aircraft launched from the carrier.”

Several innovations one sees aboard the Gerald Ford can be found aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth: significant power generation, efficient C2 capabilities, very large rooms for reconfigurable C2 suites for operations across the Range of Military Operations (ROMO), and well designed work areas for the F-35B crews which will handle the operations and data generated by the fighter platform to the fleet.

Significant power generation means that future developments can be accommodated, including the probability of the coming of directed energy weapons. The ability to drive the computer power necessary for evolving C2 is significant as well.

Walking through the ship, one sees miles of cable run to support operations, and notably to provide for robust and redundant C2. In fact, both the Ford and QE have prioritized C2 in way that will allow these ships to play key roles in supporting not only a task force at sea but an overall joint or coalition insertion force.

The ship infrastructure is supported by an integrated platform management control system. The IPMS provides integrated management to support operations and combat management. This “brain” of the ship is designed to manage the work flow and provide dynamic information to enable the infrastructure aboard the ship to support sortie generation rates for the mix and match strike force.

In common with CVN-78, the Queen Elizabeth Class has a new way to load weapons and enhance the safety and speed of the weaponization process. It is highly mechanized with advanced automation. Weapons are brought to either end of the deck to be loaded onto the combat aircraft, and the mechanism for loading and moving the weapons can provide a mix and match capacity to push the proper loads to the particular aircraft for individual missions of the day.

According to Captain Chris Alcock, Head of the Carrier Strike Division in Navy Command Headquarters, the introduction of the new large deck carrier will require significant change in the approach of the Royal Navy.

“There are a lot of people that have never been on a carrier before, and the Royal Navy has been, since the demise of the carriers, very much a frigate Navy. We are generating a new Maritime Task Force concept (MTF) to shape the concept of operations going forward. This clearly draws on elements of the past, but requires a fresh think as well.

“People say it’s not all about the carrier, but it is all about the carrier, because that will be the center of gravity around which we will provide all the other enablers for the other elements of the task group. The constitution of the task group is critical too, depending on what we do with the carrier, but the carrier and its air wing are the centerpiece enabling the entire task force.

“We have worked closely with the USN and the USMC in the regeneration of Carrier Strike, and that working relationship has been hugely appreciated – and also the work they have done for us and with us in support of this aim,” said Capt Alcock.

Notably, the working relationship with the USMC and its efforts with F-35B integration aboard US Navy ships is a crucial one for the Royal Navy and Royal Air  Force (RAF will operate the F-35Bs aboard the carrier).

Group Captain Paul Godfrey, a key RAF officer involved with F 35 Lightning II Entry into Service, described the working relationship with the USMC and USN: “We are training with the Marines and the other air services as we prepare to embark our F-35s aboard the carrier in three years time. And we are very much using this time to think through the marriage between the carrier and the airwing and are looking closely at what the Marines and the US Navy are doing as well.

“In this three year period before we’re bringing our F-35Bs back to the UK, and in the four year period we’ve got before we declare a carrier strike capability 2020, we can have a really good look at how we want to do this. And we are looking at a revolutionary way of doing it, rather than an evolutionary way of doing it.”

The Brits and Marines are working closely together to stand up their separate but coordinated capabilities associated with an F-35-enabled 21st century combat force. The F-35 global enterprise is a key enabler of collaborative resources. As their own systems and squadron are stood up in the UK to get ready to work with HMS Queen Elizabeth, the Brits are training on F-35 equipment (including the simulators) at the Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station in South Carolina.

The close working relationship between the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force with the USMC and the USN was recently on display during the operational trials of the F-35B aboard the USS Wasp in May 2015, one of the last steps prior to the F-35B operationally entering USMC aviation.  The Brits are integrated members of VMFAT-501 at Beaufort, and are standing their squadron up there and then will fly to the UK and be declared operational in 2018.

The Brits had engineers, observers and maintainers aborad the Wasp as part of the operational testing, and their experience was part of the preparation for the aircraft and its integration with the Queen Elizabeth over the next few years.

For the last year, Lt. Cdr. Beth Kitchen, OT-1 Evaluations Lead, VFMA-501, for the Royal Navy at Beaufort, has been in South Carolina working with the Marine Corps at Marine Corps Air Base Beaufort.

“Our programs are aligned and they’re working in partnership in order to develop the capability of the 35B,” she said in a recent interview aboard the USS Wasp during the operational trials. “In terms of this ship deployment, we’ve got other UK maintainers who have been a part of the detachment.

We’ve got personnel who are working within the power line with the avionics department, as well as any maintenance control, and they contribute to the maintenance effort in exactly the same way as the Marines are.

They are trained in the same way in the schoolhouse down at Eglin, but the Marines are also looking at how the UK conducts maintenance and how that can possibly be involved in the future.”

In other words, the Brits are integrated members of the squadron, and the Marine Corps and British maintainers are learning together to adapt their different protocols to a common airplane.

Obviously, this will pay real dividends down the road in terms of being to cross deploy at sea.

It is important to fully understand what insertion forces can do for a nation when a mission can be effectively correlated with objectives set by political decision makers. When publics and governments are looking for alternatives to parking land forces in areas for long periods of time, and achieving mixed, negative or uncertain results, the carrier is emerging as a viable option.

Put bluntly, publics are tired of long ground campaigns but like to see national interests being projected and protected. Insertion forces built around integrated air, ground and sea power is a core enabler of being able to act rapidly to influence events – and not simply occupy terrain until war weariness crushes strategic objectives.

Both the UK public and decision makers will soon have a much wider range of options without having to deploy forces ashore for long periods of time, unless the interest, the need and the support is available to do so.

The coming of the Queen Elizabeth Class carrier provides strong strategic options that are simply missing from today’s UK defense forces; and it fits into where other allies are moving as well.

http://frontline-defence.online/article/2015/4/2149

The photos in the first slideshow are credited to The Daily Mail:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2972278/Britain-s-new-aircraft-carrier-HMS-Queen-Elizabeth-sighted-River-Forth-6billion-fitting-Royal-Navy-s-biggest-ship-continues.html#ixzz3TEehbOT1

The second slideshow photos were shot during the visit to HMS Queen Elizabeth and were shot by the RN/RAF team and are credited to them.

• The first photo shows the ski jump on the flight deck for the F-35B.  The second photo is of the ski jump and a shot of the Hood Dock from which HMS Hood left to go after Bismarck and to which HMS Prince of Wales returned after the Bismarck was sunk.
• The third photo is shot from the ski jump and looks down at the entire flight deck.
• The fourth photo shows Robbin Laird with one of the HMS Queen Elizabeth team at the end of the flight deck.
• The fifth photo shows several members of the team who provided the tour of the ship.
• The sixth, seventh and eighth photos show the islands aboard the flight deck.
• The ninth photo provides another shot of the flight deck; the tenth photo is a shot of the reconfigurable C2 spaces aboard the ship;; the eleventh photo shows the massive crane used in the course of construction.
• And the final photo shows those who provided the tour for whom more than thanks are due for providing insights into a key element of evolving air and sea power.

2015-08-29 By Robbin Laird

Prior to the Williams Foundation Workshop on Plan Jericho, I had a chance to sit down with the two co-directors of Plan Jericho in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in their offices in the Ministry of Defence.

The co-directors led the afternoon session of the Workshop on August 6th where several RAAF officers, members of industry and other Australian services participated in the discussion of ways to shape the way ahead for Plan Jericho.

The way the project has been set up and the background of the co-directors are key elements of shaping a path to success.

Group Captain Rob Chipman is a fighter pilot with C2 experience and his last assignment was as Commander Air Task Unit 630.1 in the Middle East.

Group Captain Jake Campbell is a P-3 operator by background and has experience in the ISR and intelligence communities.

In effect, the blending of strike with situational awareness within a distributed C2 environment is one of the key targets of the Plan Jericho effort.

And reshaping the template for operations in light of the coming of the F-35 makes sense as a C2/ISR fighter comes into the force, playing a catalytic role for further change, notably in a force which is being reconfigured to a more effective 21st century combat force.

The two report directly to the two key Air Vice Marshal’s Warren McDonald and Gavin Turnbull.

As Air Vice-Marshal Warren McDonald, Deputy Chief of the Air Force, and Air Vice-Marshal Gavin Turnbull, Air Commander Australia, put it in their forward to the Plan Jericho work program:

The Royal Australian Air Force has an outstanding record of achievement across the spectrum of conflict from high-end warfighting to counter insurgency operations to humanitarian support in the wake of natural disasters. In the future, responding to global and regional events will be more difficult, as the proliferation of technology and the advancement in potential adversaries’ capabilities pose new challenges to the Australian Defence Force.

To rise to this challenge, Air Force needs to extract every last bit of mission effectiveness from our capabilities by investing in our education and training, and the development of integrated tactics and networks. Air Force must embrace innovative thinking and be prepared to rapidly harness the potential of emerging technology.

Developing an integrated, networked force will be the difference between simply owning fifth generation aircraft and being a truly fifth generation Air Force. We will work collaboratively with Navy, Army, other Defence groups and our industry partners to ensure Air Force contributes seamlessly to, and enhances, joint operational outcomes.

Plan JERICHO is the key to delivering the future force, and the enclosed Program of Work outlines the integration activities that will transform Air Force over the next ten years.

This transformation will allow us to maintain mastery of a changing air and space domain whilst remaining responsive to whatever the future may bring. All of us in Air Force, the broader Defence organization and industry will need to work together if we are to deliver this program. We look forward to the journey.

Program of Work

Question: How does the structure reflect the Plan Jericho Approach?

Group Captains: The concept of having two co-directors was born out of a seminar at the end of last year.

We held a workshop to understand what Jericho should be about. RAAF leadership participated and there was a clear recognition that for this to work, it could not be led by starboards in the Air Force.

The time frame for them is too short.

This has to be an enduring cultural change.

The idea was to reach further down into the organization.

And they also wanted cross-cultures in terms of the implementation of Jericho, which is why they have tasked us, one from the ISR culture and the other from the air combat culture.

The idea was to cut through the bureaucracy as well so we report directly for the Air Commander and the Deputy Chief of the Air Force.

There is no one star between us and them.

Question: What is the fifth generation mindset you are bringing to this effort?

Group Captains: For us the fifth generation mindset is one where sensor information across all our capabilities is integrated to deliver a more effective combat force.

We recognize this capability within the JSF fleet, where F-35s are able to collaborate within a formation to dramatically improve their effectiveness.

We are looking to re-shape our entire force with this mindset and create a more effective sensor enabled force which can operate in a distributed manner to deliver the desired combat effect.

We are also bringing an operational mentality to Plan Jericho.

In operations, we make changes relatively quickly, which does not happen at the program level.

We’ve got to find ways to work together. It’s not all about widgets and technology.

It can be just about working together to develop our understanding and advance combined TTPs (Tactics, Techniques and Procedures) and practice what we can do together.

And all of those things contribute to us improving our innovative war fighting effectiveness.

If we would characterize the mantra of Plan Jericho, it is about changing the way we fight.

We’re incremental, we’re about war fighting effectiveness, and we’re about changing combat approaches driven by rethinking concepts of operations.

Question: A key element of the shift is in terms of decision-making or pushing decision making to the level of activity where the decision is most appropriate. It is about shaping the commander’s intent and really unleashing the combat packages to get the job done at the forward point of operations.

How do you view this shift?

Group Captains: The shift you have described is a key one. We are doing it for two reasons.

The first is to get information to the person that needs it in the battle space and to achieve the best tactical effect.

The second is to have enhanced organizational resilience.

We want to be able to operate effectively when we lose connectivity back to mother ship.

We need to be able to get information into the battle space so that we can continue the fight no matter what the status of the network is.

This means that we need to think differently about information control in the battle space.

Question: The tanker and Wedgetail are two programs whereby you began to see the shift towards working differently with industry to get the platform into the hands of the warfighter to allow the combat driven innovation process accelerated.

How do you view these case studies, so to speak?

Group Captains: If we take the case of the tanker, we put the platform into operation prior to what was envisaged as the original IOC.

It was supposed to be able to do tanking via a boom as well as probe and drogue.

It went to the Middle East with only the later capability.

But it has made a tremendous contribution and we are now getting close to achieving operational capability with the boom as well.

The tanker experience sends a really strong message.

Part of being innovative and developing capability is getting it into the hands of the operators and working in partnership with industry to improve it.

We can’t simply wait until industry has complied with the complete list of requirements set out at the outset of the program.

In other words, we are bringing that operational mindset that we spoke about before back home. That’s really what Jericho’s about.

It’s empowering people, it’s giving them permission to innovate and I think that’s what we see working great on operations. So let’s get that mindset back home because we can’t afford the luxury of time anymore.

We don’t have ten years at home to turn out new capabilities and then deploy.

Our adversaries are not waiting until we meet the requirements list for a new program.

Question: The RAAF held a workshop to broaden understanding of Plan Jericho in the RAAF last March.

Can you describe what happened there?

Group Captains: We took representatives from all the capabilities across the air force.

It was the first time in our 25 years of service I’ve sat in a room where we’ve had people from all different capabilities talking about how we want to work together. And so that was great.

The inspiration for that came from the US.

That happens at the air warfare center every other day in the US.

And it happens in the UK at their air warfare center.

It will happen in Australia at our warfare center.

We’re also encouraging experimentation through a series of exercises called Jericho Dawn as well.

Question: Clearly, the approach requires working differently with defense industry

How do you view that change?

Group Captains: Right from the outset we need to have a better discussion with industry at the needs phase in the capability acquisition life cycle.

Better discussion in the needs phase would allow us to introduce capability more rapidly into service.

And putting systems into service with operators to sort out the path to further requirements which need to be met, rather than having a roadmap for requirements set for a decade is crucial as well.

Behavioral change is needed on both sides of the fence.

We as an air force need to change the way we behave in terms of our engagement with industry.

And how much we expose them to our thinking about the way ahead.

The context for industry in Australia is much different to the US.

So I think they have the agility to be able to adapt to that new paradigm. Instead of getting big peaks in expenditure, we need a more incremental approach where there is relatively a modest, but smooth revenue stream over time.

If we can change our working relationship with industry in Australia, we can set in motion a more operationally driven and fifth generation transformation process.

Question: Obviously, the Plan Jericho effort contributes to the First Principles review and will be informed by it, so that the RAAF stimulating innovation can have an important impact on the transformation of jointness itself. 

How are you addressing the broader joint transformation?

Group Captains: The Army is changing as it addresses questions about its expeditionary future, such as operation of the Canberra amphibious ship.

The Navy is in the throes of change as it leverages the new air combat frigate, works towards new submarines and shapes an approach towards the new modular frigate.

We need to focus on cross-domain transformation.

For example, we had a meeting with army and navy the other day and one of the comments that came out of that group was we can no longer just have our own self-protection bubble. We have to have a joint self-protection bubble.

We can no longer say that we are going to go as an air package, protect ourselves, get to a target, do the business, come home.

We now have to think about that in joint terms.

We’ve got to have a mutual role in force protection because doing it ourselves is not going to be enough.

That is the kind of conversation we are having with them.

There is some open thinking in the other services providing an opportunity for us to work together to transform jointness, as you suggest.

What excites us about Jericho is that in many ways we’ve got the major platforms for air force modernization; we’ve now got an opportunity to change the culture of innovation in the air force and the way we think about doing business and acquiring and sustaining capabilities.

By the time we get to the next round of major investments hopefully we’ll have had a cultural shift that can capitalize on better ways of buying platforms and keeping them sustained in moving forward.

Editor’s Note: In the afternoon workshop held by The Williams Foundation, the co-directors of Plan Jericho challenged the audience to discuss a range of questions and to debate the way ahead.

The briefing, which framed the afternoon session, can be found below:

Workshop Questions

Editor’s Note: In the slideshow above, the first photo shows Group Captain Jake Campbell presenting at the Williams Foundation workshop on Plan Jericho, August 6, 2015.

In the second photo,  (L-R) Commander Task Unit 630, Group Captain Rob Chipman; Commander Joint Task Force 633, Major General Craig Orme; Chief Joint Operations, Vice Admiral David Johnston and Commander Air Task Group 630, Air Commodore Steve Roberton, gather for a photo during VADM Johnston’s visit to Air Task Group 630 in the Middle East.

In the third photo, then Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Geoff Shepherd AO presents the incoming School of Air Warfare (SAW) Commanding Officer
Wing Commander (WGCDR) Andrew ‘Jake’ Campbell with spears that were given to the School by the local Gunai people.

In the final photo, Campbell and Chipman explain the capability of the newly-installed Satellite Communications and Imagery Display suite inside an Air Force C-17A Globemaster (May 2015).

The first photo is credited to Second Line of Defense; the next three to the Australian Ministry of Defence.

Editor’s Note: This is the third of a series of interviews with senior officers in the RAAF which preceded and followed the Plan Jericho session held by The Williams Foundation and which will then be followed by an overview report on the Conference and the evolving RAAF approach to the transformation of jointness under the impact of evolving air-enabled operations.

It is about design driven concepts of operations which is at the heart of the Plan Jericho approach.

https://sldinfo.com/the-air-commander-australia-discusses-plan-jericho-and-the-way-ahead/

https://sldinfo.com/the-williams-foundation-the-raaf-and-shaping-a-way-ahead/

https://sldinfo.com/a-discussion-with-the-australian-air-chief-air-marshal-davies-discusses-iraq-plan-jericho-and-the-way-ahead/

 

 

2015-08-28  By Robbin Laird

When then Air Vice Marshal Davies was in Washington DC earlier this year, I had a chance to discuss with him his thinking about the way ahead for the RAAF and defense transformation.

Air Vice-Marshal Davies highlighted that a key trajectory for force transformation was to be able to combine kinetic with non-kinetic capabilities to deliver the kind of combat effects, which are needed for a wide variety of combat tasks and situations.

He comes from an F-111 background, and the ability to project lethality at a distance was built into the F-111 approach.

But this approach is not the most relevant to the way ahead, for it is about combined capabilities delivering a multiplicity of effects appropriate to the task which is required.

“What we’ve had trouble appreciating, and this is somewhat tough for an F111 man, is that that concept is no longer valid.

We need to take the fighting force, not just the kinetic effect, to battle, and so our requirement for air lift, our requirement for anywhere refueling, became part of a fighter support package, but really the fighter support package now includes electronic warfare, it includes ISR, and it includes the ability to update the battle second by second, minute by minute, whereas what and we have been reliant upon ISR updates of day by day up until this point.

If we don’t have all the elements as we go forward into a particular series of events, I don’t believe we will prevail.

We will not be able to have the response that we need and for a force as small as the ADF is, that’s simply not going to be effective”

The force integration piece is the goal for Plan Jericho.

He mentioned that the Royal Australian Navy leadership was shaping a convergent approach to innovation and looking at naval and air integration as a key element of moving forward as well for their platforms.

“We already see manifestations of this in Operation Okra, where we have navy controllers on the Wedgetail and we will have Air Force controllers onboard Navy ships as well.

Two days prior to his presentation to the Williams Foundation conference on Plan Jericho, I had a chance to sit down with the Chief in his office and to discuss further his thinking about the operations in the Middle East and their impact as well how Plan Jericho is in many ways empowered by the RAAF’s operational experience and the need to shape their concepts of operations as new equipment comes into the force.

Question: What has been the impact of the operations in the Middle East on the RAAF?

Air Marshal Davies; We certainly have deployed fighters and air lifters in exercises and operations.

But this is the first time we have taken an integrated air package to an operation. It is the first operational experience for both the KC-30A and the Wedgetail and the first time the Super Hornets operated (outside of Red Flag) with F-22s.

The Wedgetail operating with the tanker affected the scope of operation of each as well.

Historically, we operate tankers in assigned tanker tracks. With the communications and other links inside the tanker and with the ability of the Wedgetail to clear the way for the flexible operations, the tanker could move closer to where fighters in operation were most likely to move for refueling.

This means that you move yourself 60 nautical miles further north because the fighters you’re about to get next need to travel 100 miles to get to you. You could make it 40 miles and stay on station for another ten minutes.

This meant getting the job done more rapidly; and reduced the fuel burn on the fighters as well.

This operational shift was facilitated by the tanker not simply acting as a flying gas can in a pre-positioned location but able to operate as a mobile combat asset to support the strike force.

Something as simple as air-to-air refueling has been simple because it’s a track at a time at an altitude with a frequency and an upload. We’re saying we can make it more complicated with the right information and be much more effective in the battle space because of situational awareness.

Question: And this would not have happened if the RAAF leadership had not decided to put the assets in the hands of the warfighter rather than waiting for some procurement official to declare IOC?

Air Marshal Davies: That is exactly right. We put these assets in the hands of the warfighter to use and to determine what systems needed to be further developed in order to achieve the operational readiness, which the warfighters actually sought.

Both platforms took time to evolve to the point where we could effectively use them; but we put them into the hands of the warfighters more rapidly than traditional procurements approaches would allow.

This is certainly part of what we mean by Plan Jericho – let the warfighters have a decisive say on what is needed from an operational standpoint, in terms of what the fleet can deliver rather than simply upgrading individual platforms organically.

And getting into operations is crucial in terms of operator confidence and coalition capabilities.

With the Wedgetail deployed, allies got use to it and considered it a very reliable asset and the radar performance to be extraordinary.

Without that operational confidence, the asset will not be used as often or as effectively.

We see this as part of the Plan Jericho approach – get into the hands of the operators to determine what capabilities are best next and from which platform?

What does a .02DB Delta on a radar range mean for an operator?

I don’t know.

Let’s give it to the operators and find out.

And that’s what we’ve done.

Question: Your Super Hornets flew for the first time in combat with F-22s.

What was the experience and what did you learn from that?

Air Marshal Davies; We have flown in Red Flag with F-22s and that training was crucial to operations in the Middle East. The pilots came back and said “it was just like in Red Flag.”

For us, at the moment the F-22 is a surrogate for the F-35, although with regard to combat systems and roles, the F-35 will be superior to the F-22.

But the point is to get the operational experience.

What we discussed at last year’s Williams Seminar with the Marines present is our basic point: What does a Super Hornet bring to 5^th generation and what does the 5^th generation bring to the 4.5 generation aircraft?

And to be clear, the F-35 brings significant knowledge about the battlespace and how to more effectively operate in the battlespace, manage the battlespace and dominate in the battlespace.

All of this will be an evolving work in progress, and that is inherent in our Plan Jericho approach where discovery is expected and then the implications of discovery for evolving concepts of operations and prioritizing technological needs will follow.

Question: There is a general lack of focus on the impact of software upgradeability on force structure modernization to come,

Your Plan Jericho approach fits very well a software upgradeability approach to modernization. Which platforms should be upgraded? And with what software code rewrites to do which tasks?

Air Marshal Davies: This point is generally missed, I was in London at RUSI a few weeks ago and made a similar point. And I got more up and down head movements than I did side to side. And I think there are folk who are beginning to understand this.

But sometimes folk like me are part of the problem. What the leadership I believe needs to do now is just open up the aperture a little bit. And let folk from industry and from defense and I think there’s a really important piece here about what does army, what does navy, and in the United States case, what do the marines, and the coast guard do. What are these folk thinking are options to try and explore, including leveraging the data stream from the F-35.

If we do not open the aperture and change the thought processes, we will be flying the F-35 as if it is a classic four-ship formation fighter and totally miss the point.

It is about culture change.

And the evolution we are discussing will clearly affect coalitions and who we work with.

What I would contend has been unacceptable in the future is coalition partners who don’t know what the coalition partners are flying with and what their ability to contribute is.

About Plan Jericho:

As Air Vice-Marshal Warren McDonald, Deputy Chief of the Air Force, and Air Vice-Marshal Gavin Turnbull, Air Commander Australia, put it in their forward to the Plan Jericho work program:

The Royal Australian Air Force has an outstanding record of achievement across the spectrum of conflict from high-end warfighting to counter insurgency operations to humanitarian support in the wake of natural disasters. In the future, responding to global and regional events will be more difficult, as the proliferation of technology and the advancement in potential adversaries’ capabilities pose new challenges to the Australian Defence Force.

To rise to this challenge, Air Force needs to extract every last bit of mission effectiveness from our capabilities by investing in our education and training, and the development of integrated tactics and networks. Air Force must embrace innovative thinking and be prepared to rapidly harness the potential of emerging technology.

Developing an integrated, networked force will be the difference between simply owning fifth generation aircraft and being a truly fifth generation Air Force. We will work collaboratively with Navy, Army, other Defence groups and our industry partners to ensure Air Force contributes seamlessly to, and enhances, joint operational outcomes.

Plan JERICHO is the key to delivering the future force, and the enclosed Program of

Work outlines the integration activities that will transform Air Force over the next ten years.

This transformation will allow us to maintain mastery of a changing air and space domain whilst remaining responsive to whatever the future may bring. All of us in Air Force, the broader Defence organization and industry will need to work together if we are to deliver this program. We look forward to the journey.

Program of Work

CHIEF OF AIR FORCE OPENING REMARKS AT JERICHO INNOVATION SEMINAR 6 AUGUST 2015

I am delighted to address this event. This is my first opportunity to speak to an event hosted by the Williams Foundation, since assuming the leadership of the Air Force on the 4th of July. Today I intend to speak briefly. I will explain my intent for the implementation of Plan Jericho during my term as Chief of Air Force. But I also wish to hear more about the innovative programs of the United States Air Force as well as Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

At the outset, I would like to state that both the substance and the format of today’s event reflect my priorities. We are going to hear about innovation from two of our key industry partners. It is not just ‘marketing spin’ to describe our relationship with industry as a partnership.

Rather, that is simply reality in this so-called ‘age of austerity’, in which government budgets are under pressure. More than ever, vital research and development relevant to air power is being conducted in the private sector.

We cannot afford to be mere passive customers dealing with suppliers. Many of the deficiencies in the way we have responded to technological change were held up to scrutiny in the First Principles Review released earlier this year. Our lack of agility in responding to changes in an increasingly fluid, dynamic environment was identified as a major concern.

Other issues, to which Plan Jericho is our considered response, were also identified in the First Principles Review.

My predecessor, Geoff Brown, explained how Plan Jericho would enhance our exploitation of 5th Generation technology, especially through the entry to operational service of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

However, as the FPR made clear, Defence is simply not innovative enough. The recommendations of too many past reviews were still- born. In an era of rapid technological developments, we cannot continue doing business the way we have been.

The most glaring deficiencies it identified were:

Reliance on arid compliance rather than prudent governance;

Organizational stove pipes;

A platform replacement rather than a ‘system of systems’ approach to joint force design procurement and sustainment

Plan Jericho is our institutional response to meet these challenges. We need to be more innovative and every element of the Plan is directed at making us so. I am committed to the implementation of Jericho, and will build on the work already done.

However, my own emphasis will be shaped both by who I am, and my own distinct perspectives and priorities as a leader. I believe that my approach is well suited to the next phase of our transformation journey.

At the handover of command parade, on 3 July, I made the comment that my office walls are adorned with more photos of people than of aircraft. I believe that says something important about me, and it will inform my priorities as Chief of Air Force.

Through sound force planning and sustained support from successive Australian Governments, we are in the process of modernizing our fleet. By 2025 the RAAF will be one of the most potent and balanced Air Forces in the world.

Jericho is designed to ensure that we achieve the synergies offered by that sophisticated array of platforms. But if we are to match the rhetoric about being a ‘force by design’ and a ‘system of systems’ then we really must be innovative and adaptive in key areas.

Firstly, we need to truly empower our work force. Real innovation depends on people. And I mean airmen and women – not just industry research and development partners and DSTO scientists. We must encourage ‘bottom up’ innovation.

To enable this we must become an employer of choice in a very tough employment market where it will be difficult to match the salaries and conditions available to the highly skilled people we will need.

That is especially so in the areas of space and cyber; where revolutionary change is occurring in cycles of months not years. And I intend to stand up a distinct squadron that supports the joint approach to cyber.

The model of life long employment with a single employer no longer holds sway. Yet much of our training, education and promotion systems still reflect that assumption. We must change.

We must engage people, especially those with vital skills, like cyber skills, where they are-not where we want them to be. We must understand the expectations and norms of a modern generation. Like me, many of you joined the Air Force young and you stayed.

I hope that many young Australians continue to do so. But we are going to need to be very innovative in devising conditions of employment to make better use of part time members and those working remotely.

Diversity and flexibility are not merely nice slogans designed to win Equity awards for the ADF. We must make them part of who we truly are. I am encouraged by the progress we have already made in implementing Plan Suakin, which offers some exciting options to enhance the integration and contribution of our reserve members. I intend to take up its recommendations. I also wish to push our New Horizons program harder and explain to Air Force how it enhances every element of our force. It is not about being politically correct. It is about being more effective in combat.

I believe that we also have much to learn from our international counterparts by exchanging personnel seamlessly between the Air Force and business and academic organizations. Our airmen and women can learn so much from our business partners who support our capability. I would like to see some of our best and brightest seconded to you and to effectively return to apply the knowledge and experience they acquire within Air Force.

We need each other to make this work. Defence needs unprecedented access to the deep research and development capacity of private industry. I am reminded daily that private industry has driven advancement in communication technology and big data management. It frustrates me that our war-fighters are not able to exploit this technology in their work environments to the same extent they do in their private lives. And it alarms me when I see that our adversaries are not similarly constrained.

Likewise, men and women from our industry partners can apply their skills inside Air Force and mentor and develop our people. We must make this easier and ultimately routine.

The same commitment to diversity, and flexibility must inform our approach to recruitment, retention and whole of working life learning and personal development. We are excellent at training aircrew and those who support them. But we must enhance the broader professional mastery of our people.

The world is increasingly complex and we must educate to understand the social and political context in which our technical skills are being applied. This is an area I feel passionately about.

The 5th Generation environment will be transformational. Some trade sets may vanish while others will emerge. Our people will need to be innovative to cope with this, but we must foster a learning environment in which they can do their current jobs as well as acquire new skills rapidly – not just via traditional courses.

Significantly, the context in which our airmen and women will be operating in future will be joint and as a coalition. Increasingly, we are integrated into space and cyber networks that no single power can develop and sustain. Even the USAF accepts that coalitions will be essential to its operations in the future. Again, flexible, adaptable people, who are comfortable in a diverse environment, will be critical to making coalitions work effectively.

My third priority is to ensure that everything Air Force does enhances the joint combat power of the ADF. The previous White Paper directed the ADF to be capable of joint operations within the context of a maritime strategy both to deter and defeat attacks against Australia, but also to secure our wider interests. I have no doubt the next White Paper will reaffirm that guidance.

The continuous operations, which all three services have undertaken since 1999, have improved our joint concepts and developed a generation of men and women who routinely expect to operate in a joint and coalition environment. But there is more to be done.

For Jericho to succeed- indeed for Jericho to be relevant- it must become inherently joint. We all know that there are stovepipes inside Air Force that must come down. But the same is true of the wider ADF.

I am encouraged by the collaboration of both the Army and Navy in the inaugural Jericho Dawn demonstrations. But to maximize the effects generated by our modern platforms and systems through their extraordinary array of sensors, we must keep our joint partners in the loop. If this means sometimes dialing it back to 300knots rather than 600 knots, so that we stay aligned with our partners, then so be it.

The Commander of Army’s First Brigade aspires to a future where his soldiers are capable of “dialing a bomb”; that is nominate a target to a joint fires system that can take advantage of all capabilities in our arsenal to deliver the most efficient and effective target effect. It is a worthy goal and its achievable using today’s technology.

However, this will require a change in mindset within both Army and Air Force. But to match our boast about becoming a ‘system of systems’, linking sensors and shooters, we will all have to work hard to break down cultural obstacles. The hardware is not the issue. Rather the generation of air, space and Cyber effects across the land and sea domains will depend on skilled people with an innovative mindset and the development of trust.

I will have more to say about these elements of my approach in the coming months. I hope events like this can create an ongoing dialogue with our industry partners as well. Thank you to the Williams Foundation for providing such an excellent vehicle for Air Force to engage our partners.

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a series of interviews with senior officers in the RAAF which preceded and followed the Plan Jericho session held by The Williams Foundation and which will then be followed by an overview report on the Conference and the evolving RAAF approach to the transformation of jointness under the impact of evolving air-enabled operations.

It is about design driven concepts of operations which is at the heart of the Plan Jericho approach.

https://sldinfo.com/the-air-commander-australia-discusses-plan-jericho-and-the-way-ahead/

https://sldinfo.com/the-williams-foundation-the-raaf-and-shaping-a-way-ahead/