New battlefield aircraft for the raaf
 

The Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith, and Minister for Defence Materiel, Jason Clare, have announced that the Government has agreed to purchase 10C27J Spartan aircraft at a cost of $1.4 billion.

The C27J will replace the Caribous which were retired in 2009 after more than 40 years service. The C27J complements the capabilities of the C130s and C17s and uses common infrastructure and aircraft systems such as engines, avionics and the cargo handling systems.

The C27s will be based at RAAF Richmond with the first aircraft expected to be delivered in 2015 and the Initial Operating Capability is scheduled for the end of 2016.

But what the Government giveth it also taketh away as the retirement of the C130H was announced in the Budget with some reports suggesting that all C130H flying will cease on 30 June.

So that will leave another capability gap for nearly 4 years as the RAAF will be down at least 7 heavy lifting aircraft (C130H) until the C27s arrive. I know that the RAAF will acquire a sixth C17 next year, but even if that can do the job of 2 C130Hs, our heavy lifting capability will still be significantly reduced.

And although the RAAF's C130Js are expected to take over, three are usually based at a sandy place overseas so I think our resources will be thinly stretched as there will only be a maximum of 9, and probably less due to maintenance requirements, in Australia to do plenty of work.

So perhaps an order for a few more C130Js may also be in the offing ?

The interesting question is where are the C-27Js coming from?

I thought that not long ago there had been a plan to acquire a couple of extra -Js but that got dumped by the Govt and RAAF as it was felt that these 2 aircraft would be "orphans" with their maintenence cycle out of sync with the rest of the fleet - they would be 10+ years newer than the rest.

It will be interesting to see whether the C-27J are new or ex-USAF birds. The capability gap is a issue, but the H models are almost dead structurally and need major work to keep them going. It wouldn't surprise me if more C-130J's ( a squadron at least) were brought, but money may be the problem. The RAAF would probably rather spend it on new fighters, rather than transports.

Could an extra order of CH-47's be on the cards although highly unlikely...

This is the big question. Apparently Alenia will not support the ex-USAF C-27Js if they're bought by anyone else.

I believe that they will be new aircraft to be built in Florida.

Earlier this year the US announced that it would retire its fleet of 21 C27Js and scrap plans to build another 17. So many people thought that Australia could pick up some or all of the 21 surplus C27Js and spares and associated equipment at "mates rates".

But Alenia, the Italian builder of the C27, kicked up an almighty stink and in an unprecedented move, warned the U.S. government and intending purchasers that it will refuse to support the aircraft it sold to the United States if the U.S. resells them to other nations.

Alenia explained that the company would continue to support efforts to sell new C27Js through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, but would exercise its rights not to support the aircraft originally sold to the U.S. if those planes were resold on the international market.

Alenia is still trying to sell new C27s and several countries are interested. But if the US "dumped" 21 aircraft on the market which is seen as a big deal, it would undermine Alenia and possibly affect its future and the livelihood of thousands of workers.

Alenia’s stance is understandable as a sister company, AgustaWestland, beat long time and bitter rival, Sikorsky to win the U.S. presidential helicopter contract. But a series of design changes and cost blow outs saw that $6 billion contract cancelled in the early days of the Obama Presidency so only a few of the 28 helicopters were delivered. Shades of the Airbus/Boeing USAF tanker dispute ???

The 21 surplus C27s may now be heading to the U S Coast Guard, another agency or could just be parked in the desert.

Had these events not occurred then Australia may well have been operating some C27Js by the end of 2012 instead of having to wait nearly 4 years.

I also think that 10 is too few ; 12-16 would be ideal to allow for maintenance and possible attrition. Better to buy them in today's $$$$ and have more in the fleet now and rotate them as required rather than "topping up" in a few years at increased prices like the latest C17 - I believe at least $20 million more than its sisters.

They would be far more useful and relevant, as would a few more C130Js, than the further delayed F35.

And a final word - much has been said about the Super King Airs being an interim Caribou replacement. But has anyone seen a platoon of soldiers scramble out of the back of a King Air or tonnes of supplies off loaded to flood or drought stricken areas ?

I think the King Air is a good communications and training aircraft but certainly not an "interim Caribou replacement".

And if the Government really wanted to save money, they would base a few King Air's in Canberra and use them for flights to Sydney rather than the Challengers.

Agree Rob ; they get plenty of flying up and down the East Coast and I think are pseudo VIP aircraft anyway.

Whilst being an Interim Light Transport, the purpose of the King Air 400/600 series aircraft is to provide an operational capability whilst at the same time training aircrew and maintainers to operate an aircraft with modern avionics and turboprop engines the likes of which are found on the Alenia C-27J (or whichever aircraft was going to win the Project AIR 8000 contest). So rather than an interim aircraft it is more of a transitional aircraft.

Also, whilst they may not carry tonnes of cargo or platoons of soldiers, the 38SQN King Airs were working around the clock during the floods early last year and have acquitted themselves so well, that we are very likely to see them continue to operate well after the C-27Js achieve operational capability. They actually perform a bucket-load of roles and are really the unsung heroes of the ADF.