ELECTONIC ATTACK SQUADRON 129 MILITARY
now assigned to 6 Squadron at Amberley.
In addition to that, the RAAF had the luxury
(a word not usually associated with military
procurement programmes) of six months
bedding down the capability with VAQ-129,
using the squadron’s expertise to learn
valuable lessons throughout the initial phase of
the aircraft acceptance and basing transition
process. Interestingly, in accordance with the
memorandum of understanding between the
US Navy and the RAAF, only RAAF aircrew
flew the Aussie jets while they were based at
Whidbey Island. Eventually US Navy aircrew
will enter an exchange programme with 6
Squadron at Amberley.
Initial Australian aircrew training on VAQ-129
surged to 12-16 people comprising at any
one time of 8-10 students and an additional
4-6 instructors, who taught both US Navy and
Australian students. Currently there are five
RAAF students on VAQ-129. In the future, the
RAAF plans to send two crews to VAQ-129
for the conversion course every six months,
a tempo that at this stage is set to remain in
place for the entire life of the aircraft.
Amberley bed down
With all 12 of its EA-18G Growlers now
delivered to Amberley, the RAAF has
achieved a successful initial transition to the
type, which included moving from the United
States to Australia (a good forerunner for the
F-35A that starts arriving in country in 2018).
All 12 jets were accepted in the required
timeline, to the required configuration
standard and flew multiple sorties in the first
few weeks without any significant issues.
According to Sqn Ldr Drum, the RAAF
Growler community was not expecting any
surprises during the transition because of its
successful transition to the Super Hornet, a
common airframe to the Growler. Despite the
success of the transition, Sqn Ldr Drum said
the RAAF is not underestimating the amount
of learning it has to undertake in the airborne
electronic attack role: “We are infants in that
space, but we’ve got a really good grounding
and, so far, there’s been no surprises.”
Industry support to the RAAF and 6
Squadron is provided primarily by Boeing
Defence Australia, General Electric
International Incorporated, Raytheon Australia
and Jacobs Australia.A tale of the unexpected
AIR International was both surprised and
delighted to discover that VAQ-129 has
an RAF exchange officer within its ranks.
What’s more surprising, considering the
RAF has never had a dedicated airborne
electronic attack platform and won’t get one
until the F-35B enters service next year, the
exchange programme has been running for
over 30 years. Former RAF Tornado GR4
electronic warfare instructor, Flight Lieutenant
Jane Pickersgill went through the VAQ-129
course as a Cat 1 student (the UK is not an
FMS customer so the Cat 5 classification is
not applied) and started instructing almost
immediately after her graduation, building up
to teach across the disciplines.
Explaining her chain of command, Flt Lt
Pickersgill said she has two: “Captain [Trevor]
Estes is my first reporting officer and an RAF
Group Captain based at the UK Embassy
in Washington DC is my second reportingofficer. I represent the RAF to hopefully bring
some best RAF practice into the US Navy
and to US Navy best practices home.
“It’s an instructional exchange and is
mostly about instructional techniques and
sharing information. With the F-35 in the
pipeline it’s very much electronic warfare-
centric and VAQ-129 is the home of
electronic warfare for the US Navy. The idea
is that I acquire as much knowledge and
interoperability experience with the US Navy
as possible and take that, at the appropriate
classification level, back to the UK and impart
the knowledge I’ve learnt into, probably, the
Air Warfare Centre.”
Of the near 400 RAF exchange billets
currently in the United States, VAQ-129’s
is the only remaining back-seat fast jet
exchange, and one the RAF is very keen to
continue because of the F-35 and its unique
electronic warfare capability provided by
the APG-81 AESA radar and the ASQ-239
Barracuda electronic warfare system. Post-
Afghanistan, the RAF is slowly building up its
electronic warfare capability again. Compared
to 20 years ago, the RAF’s electronic warfare
skill set is much depleted. Rebuilding its skill
set is not just for F-35, but F-35 is absolutely
the impetus behind it.
As a foreign national, Flt Lt Pickersgill
has limitations placed upon her due to the
classified aspects of the EA-18G and its
electronic attack systems and mission data.
As an exchange office, Flt Lt Pickersgill said
she is free to see data because she has
signed non-disclosure paperwork and is fully
embedded into the programme, but is not
allowed to access the secret internet protocol