It’s been an exciting time for Air Affairs Australia (AAA) based at Nowra, NSW, with tremendous growth in the past two years that has seen the company’s workforce more than triple. A two-year Fast Jet trial under the Jet Aircraft Support contract using Dassault Dornier Alpha jets in partnership with Canadian company Discovery Air Defence (DA Defence) Services will commence shortly.
AAA managing director Chris Sievers said the aircraft will be flown operationally from Williamtown and wherever else they might be required, for instance Naval Air Station Albatross and RAAF Base Pearce for Navy ops, Woomera, and RAAF Base Darwin.
“In some instances the Alpha Jets will deploy together with AAA’s Learjets that will provide a comprehensive and unique training capability for our Defence forces,” Sievers told ADM.
Operating on the Canadian register, the aircraft are sporting military camouflage and will be flown by both AAA and DA Defence pilots. The trial will inform a tender that is currently being prepared for release upon completion of the two year period.
AAA is also readying for the upcoming release of a tender for the Electronic Warfare Training Services (EWTS) contract for which it will bid in partnership with Raytheon Australia. Sievers said both Raytheon and AAA would harness their individual strengths to provide a superior solution for Defence.
“Together we can provide a much stronger offering – we’re an experienced operator and maintainer and they’re a supplier and operator of specialist EW and support systems.”
The AAA Lear jet fleet has doubled to 14 over the past year as the company has positioned itself to provide greater quality ‘red air’ adversary training to the ADF in addition to other civil services.
“We’re now flying multiple Learjets in formations, attacking ships at low level, in packs of up to five or six,” Sievers said.
The company is also moving into the second year of its civil ISR work, supporting both the NSW Rural Fire Service and the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning during the bushfire season.
“It’s looking to be a busy year as far as bushfires are concerned, so we’ve got more aircraft for that and we’re looking for northern hemisphere opportunities in the off season."
The Phoenix Unmanned Aerial Target Drone, developed and manufactured by AAA, is now operational supporting all three services of the ADF.
“We’ve sold two systems internationally and they are being introduced into service as we speak,” Sievers said.
In another international effort, AAA is working with DA Defence to introduce a Learjet target towing/ISR capability into Canada.
“International sales for Lear jet MTR-101 reeling machine operations are continuing and we expect more announcements prior to Christmas,” Sievers said.
AAA has teamed with Leonardo in the bid for Sea 129 Phase 5 (Maritime Tactical Unmanned Aerial System); the RfT for the project is expected in the first or second quarter of next year, according to Sievers.
“If successful, that contract would increase our capability and relationship with Defence, particularly Navy, via our Technology Park facility near Nowra.”
In a final announcement at Pacific 2017, Kratos Defense (Australia), manufacturer of high speed target drones in use by the USA and many countries around the world, will be opening an office in the Aviation Technology Park at Nowra, and will be offering mid and high speed Unmanned Aerial Target solutions for the ADF under a teaming arrangement with Air Affairs.
This article first appeared in the October 2017 edition of ADM