30 AUSTRALIAN AVIATION
T
he RAAF has commenced the
formal transition process of
its units and personnel from
the Boeing F/A-18A/B ‘classic’
Hornet to the Lockheed Martin F-35A
Lightning II, with the Williamtown-
based 3 Squadron completing classic
Hornet operations on December 8
2016.
The end of flying operations was
followed on December 14 by the
disbandment of 3SQN as a Hornet
operating unit under the command of
WGCDR John ‘Johnny H’ Haly. The
‘new’ 3SQN was then re-established
as an F-35 unit at Luke AFB in
Arizona with newly qualified F-35
pilot, WGCDR Darren ‘Clarey’ Clare in
command.
“I took command from ‘Johnny H’
on the Thursday at Williamtown, on
Friday I flew back to Phoenix, and
then on Saturday we stood up No 3
Squadron F-35 with a small function
there,” WGCDR Clare told Australian
Aviation. “And then as of 1st of
January we’ll be full up – our people
will wear the 3SQN patches, hats, and
T-shirts, and will continue 3SQN’s
proud history with the F-35.”
But until 3SQN builds up a
critical mass of F-35 aircraft, pilots
and maintainers, the majority of its
personnel and all of its Hornets have
been transferred to an augmented
77SQN which has stood up an
additional ‘C’ Flight to accommodate
them.
For the time being the RAAF will
continue to have 71 classic Hornets
in its inventory, and this will likely
continue to be the case at least until
3SQN achieves an initial operational
capability (IOC) with the F-35 in
2020/21.
“We’ll still be meeting all our
requirements for government,” Air
Commander Australia (ACAUST),
Air Vice-Marshal (AVM) Steve ‘Zed’
Roberton said. “And this includes all
the preparedness and joint training
commitments we have with Army and
Navy, apart from meeting operational
commitments that the government
directs.”
ClassicHornetretrospective
Australia was the third customer for
the F/A-18A/B after the US Navy and
Canada after an order for 57 F/A-18As
and 18 F/A-18Bs was placed in 1982.
The first aircraft, A21-101, first flew in
1984, and it and -102 were delivered
to RAAF Williamtown on a non-
stop 15-hour ferry flight from NAS
Lemoore in California in May 1985.
Four of the F/A-18s were built by
McDonnell Douglas in St Louis, with
the remainder being built at Avalon
in Victoria, initially from knock-down
kits until local content gradually
increased. The Hornet replaced the
Dassault Mirage IIIO in RAAF service
with the last Mirage retiring in 1989,
and the final Hornet being delivered
in 1990.
For the RAAF, the Hornet has
flown with 2 Operational Conversion
Unit (OCU), 3SQN and 77SQN,
all based at Williamtown, and with
75SQN based at RAAF Tindal in the
Northern Territory.
Four RAAF Hornets have been
lost in accidents in the 32 years they
have been in service, a remarkably
low figure considering the original
attrition estimate was that 11 aircraft
would have been lost by the type’s half
life-of-type, and this is a reflection of
its forgiving handling and systems
redundancy.
“I’ve seen Hornet aircraft that have
had horrible bird strikes, and we’ve
had mid-air collisions resulting in a
Hornet missing a third of its wing,”
said AVM Roberton. “But this jet gets
you home. And touch wood, for a few
more years it’s going to continue to do
so. I’m very impressed with the safety
record.”
And compared to its predecessors,
the Hornet’s longevity in service is a
further testament to its rugged design
as well as, for its day, its comparatively‘open’ systems architecture and
airframe capacity which has allowed it
to be continuously upgraded.
For the first half of its service life,
the upgrades mainly consisted of
new weapons, flight control system
(FCS) software and other minor
enhancements, and were generally
performed in parallel with those of the
US Navy.
But when it became apparent
that potential regional adversaries
were starting to close the capability
gap to the classic Hornet, a more
comprehensive multi-phase Project
AIR 5376 Hornet Upgrade Program
(HUG) was conducted from 2002
to 2013 which saw new sensors,
avionics, communications, cockpit
displays, structural enhancements,
and precision guided weapons added,
keeping the Hornet at the forefront of
its potential 4th generation rivals.
AVM Steve Roberton has an
enviable RAAF Hornet and Super
Hornet operational resume. Since
1992, he has flown both the classic and
the Super Hornet in RAAF service as
a line pilot, been an exchange pilot
weapons officer in the US Marine
Corps, served as commanding
officer 75SQN and part of Operation
Falconer in the Middle East in 2003,
was Super Hornet project lead and
Officer Commanding 82WG, was
the first Commander of the RAAF’s
Air Task Group (ATG) in the Middle50 shades of grey! The RAAF’s
third F-35A, A35-003, was rolled
out of Lockheed Martin’s Fort
Worth factory in November
wearing 3SQN markings.DEFENCE‘The jet we fly
now doesn’t
operate
anything like
what it did
two and a half
decades ago.’
AVM ROBERTON