RAAF BASE AMBERLY, Australia — Veteran Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) F-111 aircrews are drawing on their strike experience to create the first squadrons of the nation’s F/A-18F Super Hornet fleet.
Among them is Wing Commander Terence Deeth, the skipper of Australia’s No. 6 Sqdn., which takes on operational training duties for the fleet.
The F-model Super Hornet has a two-person crew, like the now-retired F-111, and a portion of the latter’s navigator-bombardiers are being retrained as weapon systems officer (WSO) cadres and aircrews for the F/A-18F.
WSOs will be a subspecialty within the larger RAAF category of air combat officer (ACO), which was instituted about five years ago. If Australia decides to turn 12 of the F-model aircraft into EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft, another ACO specialty will be added for electronic warfare officers (EWOs).
“We take the pilots and WSOs and turn them into functioning crews before feeding them into No. 1 Sqdn.,” says Deeth. “With retirement of the F-111, there’s only one place for WSOs to go. The [training process for Super Hornet] is in its infancy. At the moment, we’re doing the same sorts of things as [those training for the older] classic F/A-18s. We have the capacity to do it a little bit better.”
That observation understates the advanced capabilities of the Super Hornet, which comes equipped with a Raytheon-built active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radar that can pull small targets out of ground clutter for precision-strike attacks. It also serves an air-to-air role with more than twice the range of a conventional radar and the ability to find stealthy cruise missiles, for example. The design of AESA radars cuts maintenance by about 90% (primarily because there are no moving parts) and reduces the need for support personnel. Radars are expected to last the lifetime of the aircraft without replacement or removal.
“There are many more capabilities available from the F-model within the fast-jet-force air combat group than there ever was for the F-111,” says Deeth. “We’re looking to exploit those [data transfer] capabilities. It’s all about network-centric warfare.”
Candidate training
Aircrew candidates go through pilot and WSO training and are then screened based on the RAAF’s requirements and personal assessments of their skills and aptitude. Interaction in a crew environment is a key determinant. Once the F-model transition course is completed, the crews go to No. 2 Sqdn.
“The difference between what the U.S. Navy does and what we are doing here is that we are training from the first day as a crew and they go all the way through that way,” says Deeth. “That comes from our experiences with the F-111.”
The training program also is shaped in part by exchange programs with British Tornado, U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle and U.S. Navy Super Hornet units.
“We threw that into a melting pot based on the classic Hornet,” says Deeth, who completed the transition course in November. “I made it my business to do the course from start to end so that I would know the standard and the issues that might spring from the Australian context,” he adds.
“As to matching a crew, we’re going to do something a little different,” he says. “We plan to pair four student crews and then change them throughout the course — normally for the simulator sessions. When they actually fly, it will be with instructor aircrews. Occasionally, they will have solo flights with their crew buddy as wingman to an instructor crew.”
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