Silicon Chip – May 2019

12 Silicon chip Australia’s electronics magazine siliconchip.com.au

SILICON CHIP visited the Australian International Airshow and

Aerospace and Defence Exposition, also known as the Avalon Airshow,

to take a look at the latest aerospace technology. This is a major

international show and attracts the largest aerospace corporations from

all over the world, as well as some smaller ones. It’s held every two years

at Avalon Airport, near Geelong in Victoria.

by Dr David Maddison

T

his article concentrates on new
developments in aerospace
technology. We aren’t going to
cover any of the technology already
described in our previous articles on
the Avalon Airshow, in the May 2013
(siliconchip.com.au/Article/3789) and
May 2015 (siliconchip.com.au/Arti-
cle/8550) issues.
In those previous articles, we covered
modern aircraft operating in Australian,
including the RAAF C-17 Globemaster
III, the Heron, E-7A Wedgetail, KC-30A,
MQ-4C or many other interesting air-
craft and related platforms.
So without further ado, let’s now take
a look at what was new at the Avalon
Airshow this year. Fig.1 shows a map
of the exhibits.

Boeing “Loyal Wingman”

The Loyal Wingman is an Australian-
developed, artificial intelligence based
stealthy combat drone under develop-
ment by Boeing in Brisbane, in con-
junction with the Royal Australian Air
Force (RAAF) – see Fig.2.
The unexpected unveiling of this
system at the show caused quite a stir

among industry personnel.

This is the first high-performance

military aircraft Australia has made

since World War II. The Wingman is de-

signed to fly along with other manned

aircraft such as the RAAF Boeing E-7A

Wedgetail airborne early warning and

control (AWACS) aircraft (see SILICON

CHIP May 2013) or the RAAF Boeing

P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft

(see SILICON CHIP May 2015).

It can also fly alongside the RAAF

F/A-18F Super Hornet or F-35A on

combat missions, where its role would

be to take on higher-risk intelligence-

gathering tasks, surveillance and re-

connaissance missions in enemy air-

space and possibly also deliver mis-

siles or bombs.

At 11.7m long and with a range of

2000 nautical miles (3700km), it is ex-

pected to cost less than a manned fight-

er. Boeing is spending an undisclosed

amount of money on the project and the

Australian Government has provided

$40 million. The first prototype flight

is expected in 2020.

See the videos titled “Boeing unveils

its 38ft long autonomous ‘Loyal Wing-

man’ drone” via siliconchip.com.au/

link/aaoj and “Boeing’s ‘Loyal Wing-

man’ drone | What the Future” at:

siliconchip.com.au/link/aaok

The F-35A and

RAAF Plan Jericho

The Air Force is undergoing rapid

change due to new technology, includ-

ing the new F-35A fighter aircraft which

Australia is purchasing (Figs.3 & 4). It

is regarded as a “fifth generation” air-

craft. The previous generations were

as follows.

• The first generation of jet fighters
  were the subsonic jets which first
  took flight in the mid-40s (towards
  the end of WW2 or just after), such as
  the Gloster Meteor and North Ameri-
  can F-86 Saber.


• Second generation fighter jets were
  unveiled in the mid-50s to early 60s;
  they had afterburning turbojets; for
  example, the Dassault Mirage.


• The third generation were aircraft
  from the mid-60s to early 70s, with
  improved manoeuverability, ground
  attack capabilities and guided mis-
  siles. This includes the McDonnell