Two RAAF F-35A Lightnings overhead Tindal. The DSR recommended upgrades and enhancements to several of the ADF’s northern bases to make them more resilient. (ADF) The Defence Strategic Review’s recommendations for Australian air power should be a viewed as an endorsement of Australia’s air arm, rather than cause for concern. The recommendations were sensible but unspectacular, especially compared to the fundamental reorientation of the Army’s land combat capability and reset of the Navy’s surface fleet. The Review, led by His Excellency Professor Stephen Smith and Sir Angus Houston, saw that s ..read more

The first RNZAF P-8A prior to its delivery ceremony in Seattle. (BOEING) The Royal New Zealand Air force has taken delivery of its first of four Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. The delivery was conducted in a small ceremony at the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field in Seattle, and was attended by Boeing and NZ govt officials. It comes just four months after the aircraft was rolled out and made its first flight in August. New Zealand formally requested and was approved to buy the P-8A in April 2017, and the four aircraft were ordered as part of a larger Lot 11 order for 18 P-8As fo ..read more

The first B-21 is revealed at Palmdale. (USAF) The US Air Force and manufacturer Northrop Grumman unveiled the first B-21 Raider stealth bomber at the Plant 42 complex at Palmdale in California on December 2. The once-in-a-generation aircraft is designed to replace the US Air Force’s B-1B Lancer and B-2 Spirit bombers in service, and its design continues Northrop Grumman’s legacy of advanced ‘flying wing’ models. The B-21 has been named ‘Raider’ in honour of the famous 1942 raid on Tokyo just three months after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour by 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers hastily-modified to be ..read more

The Bell V-280 Valor tiltrotor has won the US Army’s FLRAA competition. (BELL) The US Army has announced its selection of the Bell V-280 Valor tiltrotor aircraft for its Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) requirement. The V-280 was selected ahead of a joint Sikorsky and Boeing effort offering the Defiant-X coaxial/compound rotorcraft, a development of its SB>1 Defiant prototype. The down-select follows a Joint Multi-Role (JMR) technology demonstration, a two-phased competitive development and risk-reduction program where prototypes of both aircraft were flown by company and US Army ..read more

(USAF) Access, basing, and overflight (ABO) is an emerging risk to Australia’s sovereign military response options. In essence, the risk is needing someone else’s permission to do what you want to do. Mitigating this risk, and maximising flexibility, requires capabilities with a minimum of ABO entanglement. Freeing Australia from these constraints is best done by maximising what the ADF and its partners can do from Australia’s sovereign territory, whether on land or at sea. ABO encompasses the frameworks enabling military operations in, from, and through sovereign and international air, land ..read more

Although very much evolving from allied efforts to stymie the power of Luftwaffe (German Air Force) air defences during the Second World War, the SEAD mission came of age during the Cold War and progenerated an era of NATO dominance in radio frequency combat capabilities. RF capabilities which have now renewed importance in the context of the war in Ukraine and the rise of China.  This grainy picture uploaded to social media shows a US-supplied AGM-88B/C missile on the inner underwing hardpoint of a Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29 combat aircraft. (@CiroNappi6) On 9 August 2022, the US governm ..read more

(NORTHROP GRUMMAN) The current war in Ukraine and recent conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh and Syria have shown the increasing utility of armed and unarmed uncrewed systems in their ability to shorten the decision cycle and thus, the kill-chain. The ADF has several long-running uncrewed projects which will soon mature into operational capabilities, while other interim capabilities have entered and since left service. AIR 7000 PHASE 1B The ADF’s largest and longest-running uncrewed system finally hit a key milestone in September when the first Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton maritime UAS was rolled o ..read more

Concept art of the HACM in flight. (RAYTHEON/NORTHROP GRUMMAN) A teaming of Raytheon Missiles & Defense, and Northrop Grumman has been awarded a US$985m (A$1.5bn) contract to develop the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) for the US Air Force. The contract will cover the system design, development, and initial delivery, the performance of model-based critical design review, qualification, integration, manufacturing, and testing the HACM through to March 2027. Designed to be launched from tactical fighter-sized aircraft, the Mach 5 HACM is powered by an air-breathing scramjet engine. A ..read more

(ADF) Times are tough and money is tight. “The pursuit of value for money [is] imperative” for the Government and the Defence Strategic Review led by Professor Stephen Smith and Sir Angus Houston. Scaling up Australia’s proven air arm offers Professor Smith and Sir Angus a low-risk, value-for-money way to buy time and choice for the Government. Growth across the ADF is necessary, but the long delivery timelines and the constrained speed and reach of surface forces leave gaps air power is well-placed to cover. The Review should consequently recommend rapid investment in airbases, workforce, and ..read more

Raytheon Missiles & Defense, Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, and the US Air Force Research Laboratory Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation (SDPE) office have demonstrated the ability of the NASAMS air defence system to provide a layered air base air defence capability. In a recent test at Norway’s Andoya Air Station, NASAMS system successfully fired AIM-9X, AMRAAM, and AMRAAM-ER missiles to engage incoming cruise missile targets at various distances. The test was designed to assess the NASAMS system’s ability to fire all three missile variants when integrated with US Army ..read more