Defence Business: Boeing turns it around | ADM Aug 2010
For several years Boeing did it tough in Australia – there was no shortage of orders, but most of the company’s major developmental defence programs were under-performing badly.
Now the company seems to be recovering its poise, along with its reputation.
Gregor Ferguson | Sydney
Two years ago the DMO’s list of Projects of Concern was thick with Boeing logos: Wedgetail; Vigilare; HF Mod; JP129.
The head of Boeing Defence Australia (BDA), John Duddy, admitted frankly to journalists at Boeing Australia’s Brisbane HQ in May this year that the company’s principal customer was fast losing faith in its ability to deliver.
Boeing’s importance to the ADF is undeniable: it supplies five distinct aircraft types (Hornet, Super Hornet, Chinook, C-17 and Wedgetail), a UAV (Scan Eagle), two key weapons types (Harpoon and JDAM), and three key components of the ADF’s networked command and control capability (Vigilare, HF MOD and Wideband Global SATCOM).
It also has a critical training and sustainment role.
Notwithstanding that some of these platforms were effectively MOTS purchases and that many of its sustainment and training programs were doing very well, Boeing’s under-performance on a number of projects was hurting the ADF.
Hence Defence’s concern over Boeing’s record during the decade just past.
A management reshuffle in 2008 which saw Duddy appointed to lead Boeing’s Australian defence business sparked a turnaround which has gone a long way to restoring the company’s fortunes.
Its operations have been realigned with the parent company’s Defense, Space & Security business and its major Boeing Military Aircraft, Global Services & Support and Network & Space Systems sectors.
Troubled projects have been finessed into shape.
The troubled HF MOD project is finished; Vigilare has passed key milestones; both are now export-ready products, says Boeing; and the company’s training, aerostructures and sustainment businesses are growing steadily.
Last year BDA turned over $300 million; Duddy’s goal is to grow this to $500 million by 2014 and $1 billion by 2019, with much of that growth coming from its interlocking services, training and sustainment activities.
The company’s growth path has several parallel lanes and ADM got the chance to explore some of them during a week-long media tour in late-May.
Training
Boeing’s Australian sustainment and training activities overlap significantly: the company operates the C-17 Aircrew Training System (ATS) at Amberley on a turn-key basis, and recently graduated the first two locally trained pilots.
The ATS delivers the standard C-17 training course using standard C-17 flight simulators and training devices.
These consist of a Full-Flight Simulator manufactured by Flight Safety International and a Loadmaster Station which together comprise the Weapon System Trainer.
The ATS also includes computer-based and reconfigurable desktop training devices, along with a Maintenance Trainer which is operated under sub-contract by AAI/Aerosonde.
The training suite will be augmented next year by a Cargo Compartment Trainer – a high-fidelity mock-up of the C-17’s cavernous cargo bay to support training of loadmasters and movements personnel, along with other specialists such as medical retrieval and CASEVAC teams who will need to use the C17 for specialist retrieval and transport missions in the future.
Boeing Training & Flight Services (T&FS) Australia business, formerly Alteon Training Australia, has four campuses: Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne provide flight and maintenance training on a range of civil types, including the B717, 737, B777 and A320, while the Williamtown campus focusses on the B737-based Wedgetail.
RAAF aircrew flying 34 Squadron’s B737 BBJ VIP aircraft also undergo conversion and type rating by Boeing T&FS.
Wedgetail pilots train on a Thales C2000 full-flight simulator which incorporates the EW Self-Protection, Flight Deck Tactical Display and Head-Up Display employed on the real aircraft.
Boeing’s largest training commitment, however, is in support of Australian Army Aviation at Oakey, where the company runs the largest civilian team of military Qualified Flying Instructors (QFI) in the country.
The five-year Army Aviation Training & Training Support (AATTS) contract was awarded in 2007 and covers pilot training on the B206 Kiowa and S-70A9 Black Hawk, aircrewman training, and maintenance training for Black Hawk airframe/engine and avionics technicians.
The company also carries out operational maintenance for 19 Kiowas at Oakey, five at Holsworthy and six Black Hawks at Oakey.
The company puts student pilots through the six-month Helicopter Conversion Course (HCC) on the Kiowa, which now has an NVG-compatible cockpit and is undergoing a minor avionics upgrade.
It also provides the Black Hawk Operational Type Transition Course (OTTC); this is a full military conversion course though doesn’t include tactical training – but it covers everything else, including NVG operations and underslung loads.
BDA also has a CH-47D QFI at Townsville to support C Sqn, 5 Aviation Regiment, whose pilots undergo conversion training in the US.
Boeing’s work at Oakey is helping it prepare for the ADF’s forthcoming Rotary Wing Flying Training (RWFT) contract under Air 9000 Ph.7.
It’s also the platform from which the company has bid for the ADF’s Interim Basic Flying Training (IBFT) contract, aiming to supplant incumbent BAE Systems Australia and position itself in turn for Air 5428, the RAAF’s all-through basic and advanced flying training program.
The networked battlespace
The much-delayed Vigilare air defence command and control system is finally delivering on its potential, according to Steve Parker, Boeing’s general manager for Network & Space Systems in Australia.
Describing it as a “game changer for the company”, Parker told journalists the first installation, at the Northern Regional Operations Centre (NROC) at Tindal successfully underwent Site Acceptance Testing in March this year; operational test was scheduled for mid-year, clearing the way for NROC to become operational and for Boeing to implement the identical EROC upgrade at Williamtown.
Vigilare integrates and displays sensor, communications and other data fed from a variety of sea, air and land sensors and platforms, via as many as 250 separate communications interfaces, including secure voice and data and Link 11 and 16 TADILs.
A highly complex software-driven system, it even allows operators to manage sensors remotely through the Viglare consoles, and it is now at the heart of the parent company’s bid to provide a Ballistic Missile defence (BMD) system to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The system, dubbed NC3S (or Network centric Command and Control System) by Boeing, can handle up to 10,000 target tracks concurrently and its roles range from fighter control and maritime surveillance and response to high-order battlespace management.
It also incorporates a fully integrated training and simulation capability.
Boeing first demonstrated Vigilare to the UAE authorities in February 2009, and since then has identified significant market potential in the UK, Asia, Latin America and even the US, according to Parker.
Concurrently, Boeing has completed the Modernised HF Communications System (MHFCS, or HF MOD) project under JP 2043 Ph.3A.
This has proved to be another complex and much-delayed program, but both customer and contractor have stuck with it because HF (or short wave) radio is the only alternative to a satellite link for beyond line of sight communications.
Recent demonstrations by China and the US that satellites can now be disabled or destroyed by ground-based weapons have resulted in a renewed interest in HF comms around the world, Steve Parker says.
Final Acceptance was on 10 April this year, for a system which incorporates frequency prediction tools and automatic frequency selection to help establish and maintain HF links between Australia and RAN ships, ADF aircraft and deployed ground forces and headquarters.
In fact, says, Parker, HF MOD functions more like a mobile phone network than a traditional HF broadcast system: to support voice, email and fax traffic as well as web browsing, it automatically assigns system resources to meet the real-time demand on the system; prioritises information flow and maximises information transfer rates; and provides multi-level secure direct end-user to end-user communications for both voice and data without operator intervention.
The HF MOD system exceeds contractual requirements for both performance and availability, Parker told journalists in Brisbane.
Importantly for BDA, the company owns the IP and has identified opportunities for HF communications networks in North and South America, Europe and Asia.
The company demonstrated the MHFCS system at the Singapore Air Show earlier this year and Parker says the company is now actively prospecting for what he termed “multi-billion dollar export opportunities”.
Notwithstanding the difficulties BDA encountered in both the Vigilare and HF MOD programs, the resulting products are believed to have significant global market potential and the company is now Boeing’s global centre of excellence for HF communications and ground-based Command and control systems.
Support your local SME
Boeing was the first overseas prime contractor to sign an Australian Industry Capability (AIC) deed with the DMO, and established its Office of Australian Industry Capability (OAIC) in Seattle two years ago.
The company currently has over 60 industrial programs, worth about US$18 billion, running in 24 countries around the world, but many of these are traditional offset agreements: the OAIC is the first of its kind.
With support from the DMO’s Industry Division, the OAIC is designed to draw local SMEs into the broader supply chain for Boeing’s aerospace, defence and systems business in North America, and even into the supply chains of some critical sub-contractors and suppliers.
This includes training and mentoring the more promising contenders to hone their competitiveness and prepare them for a searching market test, and the development of skills such as high-speed aluminium and titanium machining.
The OAIC wasn’t intended to duplicate supply chain relationships that were already in place, so from a standing start it has resulted in $18 million-worth of contracts for Australian SMEs thus far.
If associated options are exercised this could climb rapidly to $30 million, according to Wes Field, BDS&S’s manager for Australian industry participation; at present eight local SMEs are bidding on $250 million-worth of work, for which source selections are due over the next six months.
The most recent successes under this program include Ferra Engineer’s five year contract to manufacture a portfolio of 50 precision machined components for the B747-400 airliner, and Production Parts’ one year (with options) contract to provide rudder pedal assemblies for the Super Hornet on a global sole source basis; and Mincham Aviation’s contract to build assembly spare part sets for the Chinook helicopter.
While these are small contracts in the great scheme of things, they provide the SMEs concerned with volume, cash flow, an engineering and quality challenge and, importantly, visibility within the US market and a credible reference for future forays into this and other markets.
The capture rate for contracts under the OAIC scheme is about 32 per cent, and climbing, Field told ADM.