Original plans for a comprehensive mid-
life upgrade under AIR 87 Phase 3 ARH
Capability Assurance Program (ARH CAP)
were scuttled. Instead, a modest upgrade
to address technology obsolescence and
improve availability was revealed under
the LAND 9000 ARH CAP program in
2014, with an eye to replacing the Tiger
in the mid-2020s. The ANAO 2016 report
recommended a thorough analysis of
the value in further investment on the
Tiger, pending the introduction of a
replacement. The Defence White Paper
released that year also recommended
investment in a future armed
reconnaissance capability to replace the
Tiger in the next decade.Tiger successors
The new acquisition strategy seeks to
reduce operational and in-service risk
and allow the Australian Army to rapidly
attain operational milestones. The
requirements for a proven platform rules
out acquiring the US Army’s Future Attack
Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program,
the winning contender of which is only
expected to enter low-rate production in- The Department of Defence could
of course pursue the LAND 4503 program
as an interim capability, keeping a keen
eye on FARA in the long term, similar to
how the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF)
purchased Super Hornets to bridge the
gap to the F-35. Such a move would
allow the Australian Army to have an
armed reconnaissance platform that is
operationally mature, sustainable and
cost effective to operate in the decade
ahead. It could also draw synergies with
parallel project to buy 16 army special
operations support helicopters.
Likely contenders include Boeing’s
AH-64E Apache Guardian and Bell’s
AH-1Z Viper. The Australian Defence
Force (ADF) has had opportunities to
work with and observe both platforms in
action. The former has taken part in many
bilateral exercises including the recent
biennial ‘Talisman Sabre’.
Attributes of the successful LAND
4503 are certain to include an open
system architecture for greater ease
of upgrading and adaptation plus a
Manned Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T)
capability with the army’s future Shadow
UAV replacement and the RAAF’s
MQ-9 Reaper medium-altitude long-
endurance system to be delivered in the
2020s. Greater sensor and networking
capabilities will also allow better
interoperability across the ADF and allied
partners. These will be required in a
future battlespace that is shaping to be
a near-peer anti-access and area denial
(A2/AD) environment.Above: Two US
Army AH-64
Apaches in action
during the recent
‘Talisman Sabre’
exercise on the
Shoalwater Bay
Training Area.
Commonwealth of
AustraliaWorking with industry and actively
managing internal policies and
procedures, the last of the nine caveats
had been deemed satisfactorily addressed
by February 2018. Progress was also made
with the integration of the more capable
AGM-114R Hellfire II and BAE Systems’
Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems
(APKWS) laser-guided rockets, integration
with the Australian Army’s Shadow UAVs
and enhanced deployability with kits that
enabled field operations for durations up
to two weeks.
Things were looking up for the Tiger.
First-of-class flight trials (FoCFT) were
conducted on the HMAS Canberra in
February 2017. More trials followed,
leading up to May 2019 when four ARHs
were airlifted to Malaysia via C-17s, where
they embarked on the Canberra for what
was its second international deployment.
This built towards efforts to develop an
Aviation Combat Element (ACE) for its
amphibious warfare capability as part
of the AAvn’s ‘Plan Kestrel’. Aircrews and
senior Australian Army leaders gave
praise to the reliability and maturity of the
platform as a result of the hard work.Nail in the coffin
However, it appeared that the government
has already decided to cut its losses
and focus on the successor to the Tiger.http://www.combataircraft.net // September 2019 69
68-69 Australian tigers C.indd 69 18/07/2019 13:19