TESTING
THE
POSEIDON
The ARDU can count the RAAF’s P-8A
Poseidon as a successful product of
its e orts, with its operator, No 92
Wing, being a very happy customer.
First delivered in November 2016,
Initial Operating Capability (IOC)
was declared in early 2018 by No 11
Squadron, with an expected total of
15 aircraft set to be fully operational
by the late 2020s.
Speaking to Combat Aircraft, Air
Cdre Craig Heap, commander of the
Surveillance and Response Group
(SRG), said: ‘It was ARDU test pilots,
working in concert with the SRG,
who cleared the P-8 with the KC-30
tanker. Flying a US Navy aircraft,
they built the test plan and made
sure everything stayed on the rails.’
Although refueling certi cation
provided the US P-8As a capability to
leverage the global A330 MRTT eet,
it was a high priority for the RAAF.
The RAAF P-8As also had to assume
the search and rescue (SAR) mission
from the incumbent AP-3C Orion,
which had been the platform of
choice for the past four decades.
RAAF Poseidons are the only users
of the UNI-PAC III airdrop SAR kit,
which consists of a 20-person life raft
and survival essentials. Unlike the US
Navy, which relies on the Coast Guard
to predominately handle the SAR
mission, it’s a core RAAF role. As part
of a co-operative program, the SAR
kit was rst tested by the US Navy’s
Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 1
(VX-1). Heap explained: ‘ARDU pilots
and senior pilots in 92 Wing then
took on operational evaluation and
acceptance testing — setting up the
test plans, ying those missions and
dropping the kits into the water to
make sure it all worked.’New frontiers
The recent transformation of the RAAF has
largely relied on a strategy of acquiring
US technology via the Foreign Military
Sales (FMS) program. With its status as
a close ally and an equity partner in
many aerospace projects, Australia has
signi cant in uence on some of the most
important projects in the US Department
of Defense (DoD). By maintaining
common con gurations with the US
military, it is able to ride on program
developments and spiral upgrades. It has72
UNIT REPORT // AIRCRAFT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT UNIT
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