Project Review: Wedgetail arrives, in easy stages | ADM Dec 09/Jan 10

But the project may take over a year to deliver a fully operational capability, and even longer to deliver its full potential.

Gregor Ferguson and Julian Kerr | Sydney and Williamtown

Boeing delivered the first two of six Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) aircraft to the RAAF on 26 November, and then confirmed that the remaining aircraft wouldn't be delivered for a year, and that a fully mission-capable Wedgetail fleet wasn't expected until early 2011.

These first aircraft aren't equipped with an operational Electronic Support Measures (ESM) system, and it is understood there remains a radar performance shortfall which will be rectified progressively over coming years.

This represents a further slippage on the schedule announced in October 2009, when Boeing officials stated the first two aircraft would be upgraded to fully operational configuration in early 2010 with the four remaining aircraft to be delivered by year's end.

According to Boeing three additional aircraft will be delivered to the RAAF by the end of 2010; one of these will be the first to be delivered in the fully operational configuration, including an operational ESM system.

The remainder of the fleet will be cycled through Boeing's hangar at Amberley to undergo a minor upgrade to the final configuration, and the sixth and last aircraft will be delivered as a fully operational Wedgetail in early 2011.

Initial Operational Capability (IOC) for Wedgetail is scheduled for the end of 2011 and Full Operational Capability (FOC) at the end of 2012.

The ESM system has been developed by BAE Systems Australia in Adelaide; the company declined to comment on the delivery delays.

Testing of the counter-measures dispensing system was completed in late October, and testing of the RF counter-measures system had also been completed by October 2009, according to Egan Greenstein, Boeing's senior manager business development for airborne anti-submarine warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems.

Greenstein told a media briefing in Sydney on 28 October that the aircraft's Directional Infra Red Counter-Measures (DIRCM) system would be tested and certified under a separate program, and that ESM testing would continue as "an incremental process" in both the US and Australia.

Air Vice Marshal Chris Deeble, the DMO's AEW&C program manager, told ADM at the Wedgetail handover that ESM testing had begun, but it was "still a work in progress.

We're not suffering from the same science issues as the radar, which is highly developmental," Deeble explained.

"It's an existing system that we have modified to an extent.

"We're facing engineering issues that will be resolvable."

MESA
It's less clear whether and when the Wedgetail's Multirole Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar, developed by Northrop Grumman, will meet all of its performance specifications.

The handover ceremony was postponed for two days due to unexpected delays completing negotiations between the DMO and Boeing on delivery dates, financial issues and the performance of the MESA system.

While neither side would comment on the talks, it's understood they finally reached an agreement on the details of a program to bring the radar performance up to its full contracted specification over a period of several years.

The MESA is an all-new, developmental sensor which promises significant performance at a lower weight then the APY-1 which equips Boeing's earlier E-3A AWACS early warning aircraft.

Difficulties with testing the radar at full power on the ground, along with ESM and other software and systems integration issues, had left doubts in the DMO's mind over its performance.

According to Greenstein these doubts were allayed by the performance of two Wedgetail aircraft during the Operational Utility Demonstration (OUD) early in 2009 at the RAAF's EX Arnhem Thunder.

This was a very successful exercise, Greenstein told reporters in Sydney: Boeing and the DMO gathered a great deal of useful information; operators and fighter pilots praised the system and the side supported by Wedgetail won every aerial engagement decisively - the Wedgetail was used by both ‘red' and ‘blue' sides during this exercise.

Equally importantly, he said, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory confirmed independently that Northrop Grumman's technical approach and radar architecture were both sound.

This is an important endorsement of the fundamentals of the radar and mission system.

As for the other challenging elements of this project, most have now been completed, according to Greenstein.

The Operational Flight Trainer (OFT) was delivered in March 2009 by Thales and has received CASA Level 5 certification.

This theoretically allows zero-flight-hour conversion and incorporates all of the switching and control functionality of the military-specific features of the Wedgetail cockpit, including the captain's Head-Up Display, EW display and control unit, manual dispenser and visual and aural warnings; this is 90 per cent common with a standard Boeing 737-700 flight simulator.

BAE Systems Australia delivered the Operational Mission Simulator (OMS) in October 2009; with all aircraft software ‘frozen' this is now supporting training for the Wedgetail ‘back seaters'.

Comms issues solved
A major challenge for the Wedgetail development team has been the communications suite whose proliferation of antennas and wiring in close proximity to each other has thrown up interference and other problems, which are now resolved.

The communications architecture enables each of the 10 console operators to access every radio using every mode, including Links 11 and 16.

Boeing has re-used the same Link 11 and 16 software as on the E-3 AWACS, so Wedgetail is fully compatible with the US, British and French AWACS fleets; on EX Arnhem Thunder Wedgetail demonstrated it could transfer the full Recognised Air Picture (RAP) into the cockpit of a RAAF ‘classic' Hornet.

The RAAF's Aerospace Operational Support Group (AOSG) in Adelaide will conduct the final Air-Air Refuelling (AAR) qualification trials towards the end of this year.

In Australian service the Wedgetail will operate with the RAAF's new KC-30A tankers, based on the Airbus A330-200 with EADS's Aerial Refuelling Boom Systems (ARBS); the first of these is currently undergoing final flight testing in Spain and IOC for these aircraft is scheduled for the third quarter of the year.

The AAR capability affords the Wedgetail a mission endurance of up to 20 hours, with a second flight crew required; the limiting factor on mission endurance, however, is engine oil consumption.