Royal Australian Air Force [RAAF] News, Discussions and Updates

Joe Black

Active Member
s
Among other things, I'm very interested to see how LW integrates with F35 as a counter to 5th gen opponents. With F35s as the hunters and LW as the hounds (distributed, forward ISR screen), you might be able to guard against unpleasant surprises where opposing VLO aircraft "bump" into each other well inside missile WEZ, leading to less than acceptable exchange rates. Add munitions to the LW and things get even more interesting...

In a time where good news stories have been few and far between for Boeing, I am glad to see this showing such promise.
Not hard to imagine we will soon see manned and unmanned teaming concept coming up with these Loyal Wingman drones. I can see each carrying both ISR payload as well as even weapons. If each LW drone can carry a small AESA radar and 2 to 3 AIM-120s and/or couple of SDBs, you have an F-35 acting as the conductor and orchestrates the mission with 3 other LW drones, this would be a real game changer and force multiplier.
 

Boagrius

Well-Known Member
Exactly. Alternatively, mix in some LW with ESM gear, an IRST and a laser rangefinder and they can go about the job of passively finding and "spotting" airborne targets for shooters further back. Possibilities abound...
 

ngatimozart

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
s

Not hard to imagine we will soon see manned and unmanned teaming concept coming up with these Loyal Wingman drones. I can see each carrying both ISR payload as well as even weapons. If each LW drone can carry a small AESA radar and 2 to 3 AIM-120s and/or couple of SDBs, you have an F-35 acting as the conductor and orchestrates the mission with 3 other LW drones, this would be a real game changer and force multiplier.
Exactly. Alternatively, mix in some LW with ESM gear, an IRST and a laser rangefinder and they can go about the job of passively finding and "spotting" airborne targets for shooters further back. Possibilities abound...
Let's not get to carried away. It's got along way to go yet.
 

aussienscale

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
Initial reports coming through that Northrop Grumman has started construction for the RAAF's first MQ-4C Triton :)

Really liking this project and what it will bring in conjunction with "Other" assets both current and future, this will bring a lot to the table and be a true force multiplier across numerous areas of Defence.


Cheers
 

Sideline

Member
Boeing recently completed flight tests with five high-performance surrogate jets Operating Autonomously in a team (Read as SWARM) at the new $14.5 million Queensland Drone Flight Test Range.

Lift-off for Cloncurry drone flight testing

Boeing Flies Five Autonomous Jet swarm at Cloncurry QLD, (YouTube) watch at the end for swarm flight paths

Cloncurry UAS Flight Test Range (Fact Sheet PDF)

The new facility, gives users access to a
  • 20-metre by 20-metre hangar,
  • a 2-kilometre runway,
  • state-of-the-art monitoring equipment,
  • surveillance radar,
  • an air conditioned workshop and
  • supporting amenities.
No doubt this is part of the operating system for Boeing's Loyal Wingman,
very cool stuff
 

Redlands18

Well-Known Member
Video of pilots landing and Super Hornet rolling at slow speed down the runway. Will be intersting to see why they ejected?
No obvious reason why ejection was required.

2nd incident involving a RAAF SHORNET/GROWLER on the Ground, at least this time the Aircraft looks like its salvageable.
Engine failure during T/O?
 

StingrayOZ

Super Moderator
Staff member
Superhornet Growler doesn't make a good paddock basher.

Report of engine issue before ejection. Yeh, I can understand why you would eject if you thought your engine was going to catch fire or explode while powering for take off.

The USN flys these off carriers? The other one had issues at take off.

Aircraft does look salvageable thankfully, and no appears to be too hurt (although that eject landing wasn't particularly soft). Nose gear crumpled, but rested on the drop tank, new canopy and a couple of new seats and shes good to go!
 

ngatimozart

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
Good to see that the crew are ok.

Speaking of Shornets and Growlers, there is US research out showing that the Growlers can be heard 33 m / 100 ft below the surface in seawater when they are taking off. The newspaper article implies that this is somewhat surprising, however it has been known for years that submerged subs can hear low flying aircraft.

 

cdxbow

Well-Known Member
AA is reporting that the Aircraft was about 200m into its take-off run and Eyewitnesses are reporting smoke billowing from the Engine before the crew ejected.
That's 2 out of 36 craft (one growler, one SH) over ten years. How does that compare to the legacy hornets?
 

John Newman

The Bunker Group
That's 2 out of 36 craft (one growler, one SH) over ten years. How does that compare to the legacy hornets?
The answer to that is, how long is a piece of string? There really isn’t a simple answer, it’s not comparing apples with apples.

The Classic fleet started entering service in 1985, 35 years ago, and lost 4 (of 75) airframes early on, but it doesn’t start and end there.

There has been other incidents, a couple of in flight collisions (one airframe lost), etc.


As for the Super/Growler fleets (36 airframes), started entering service 10 years ago, one Growler lost, one Super damaged yesterday.

The only way to get an accurate answer would be to know fleet flight hours, aircraft numbers and do some maths, info I would assume only the RAAF has access to.

Anyway, I think Classic, Super and Growler have been pretty reliable with low loss/accident rate compared to the aircraft they replaced, eg, Mirage and F-111.

Cheers,
 
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John Newman

The Bunker Group
Aircraft does look salvageable thankfully, and no appears to be too hurt (although that eject landing wasn't particularly soft). Nose gear crumpled, but rested on the drop tank, new canopy and a couple of new seats and shes good to go!
I agree she looks like she’ll fly again, the front strut appeared to have ended up in the ditch, rather than collapsing, but I think there will be more than just the seats and a new canopy needed.

Apart from those items, the two areas I’d imagine needs attention is the engine bay and the cockpit.

If it was one or both engines that failed, there is potential for damage to the bay from components that may have ejected themselves from the engine casing.

As for the cockpit, I would image that when the rockets ignited to launch the seats, the instruments and wiring would have been BBQ’d in the process.

Yes she’ll fly again, but it will probably take a bit of time, effort and dollars too.
 

hauritz

Well-Known Member
A couple of rockets blasted out of the cockpit. I wonder how much damage that did. There seemed to be quite a bit of scorching outside the canopy and it looked like some smoke coming out of it as well. Perhaps it is salvageable but whether it is worth repairing could depend on the longer term plans for the fleet.
 
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