The Royal Australian Air Drive (RAAF) is upgrading and increasing its air fight coaching assist to bolster the RAAF’s aviation functionality into the longer term. The brand new contract will make use of as much as 49 personnel from Raytheon Australia and an Australian subcontractor, Milskil. The vast majority of the coaching providers will likely be delivered from RAAF Base Amberley. The EA-18G Growler and F/A-18F Tremendous Hornet are crucial to RAAF’s air fight fleet. The EA-18G Growler is an digital assault plane able to disrupting, deceiving and denying a broad vary of navy digital methods, together with radars and communications. The F/A-18F Tremendous Hornet has been in-service for greater than a decade and is a key air fight functionality.
Director Normal Aerospace Fight Techniques, Air Commodore Leanne Lee mentioned,”Defence has signed a brand new $109.7 million coaching providers contract for the F/A-18F Tremendous Hornet and EA-18G Growler at RAAF Base Amberley, Queensland with Raytheon Australia. This preliminary five-year $109.7 million contract will ship ground-based simulator coaching assist together with upkeep and engineering in addition to aircrew coaching providers equivalent to instruction, courseware improvement and pressure technology duties. This new Digital Assault Air Fight Coaching Assist contract will guarantee our RAAF personnel retain their edge by way of high-quality F/A-18F Tremendous Hornet and EA-18G Growler coaching. The Digital Assault Air Fight Coaching Assist contract comprises greater than 95 % Australian trade content material with direct financial advantage of greater than $104 million to the Australian financial system.”
Commercial
The Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Tremendous Hornet are twin-engine, carrier-capable, multirole fighter plane variants based mostly on the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. The F/A-18E single-seat and F/A-18F tandem-seat variants are bigger and extra superior derivatives of the F/A-18C and D Hornet. The Tremendous Hornet has an inner 20 mm M61 rotary cannon and might carry air-to-air missiles and air-to-surface weapons. Further gasoline will be carried in as much as 5 exterior gasoline tanks and the plane will be configured as an airborne tanker by including an exterior air-to-air refueling system. On 3 Might 2007, the Australian Authorities signed an A$2.9 billion contract to amass 24 F/A-18Fs for the Royal Australian Air Drive (RAAF) as an interim alternative for its growing older F-111s.
The Boeing EA-18G Growler is a carrier-based digital warfare plane, a specialised model of the two-seat F/A-18F Tremendous Hornet. The EA-18G changed the Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowlers in service with the US Navy. The Growler’s digital warfare functionality is primarily offered by Northrop Grumman. The EA-18G started manufacturing in 2007 and entered operational service with the US Navy in late 2009. Australia has additionally bought twelve EA-18Gs, which entered service with the Royal Australian Air Drive in 2017. The Growler has greater than 90% in frequent with the usual Tremendous Hornet, sharing airframe, Raytheon AN/APG-79 AESA radar and weapon methods such because the AN/AYK-22 shops administration system.
