Australian Army aviation veers heavily towards the US

The Australian Army declared an initial operating capability (IOC) for its new UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters last month, as the type replaces the MRH90 Taipan. The declaration came 15 months after the first examples started flying in Australian skies.

The Department of Defence said, “The IOC ensures the twelve Black Hawks are able to support counterterrorism operations in Australia, and remediate capability gaps associated with the withdrawal from service of the MRH90 Taipan fleet”.

Deliveries by Sikorsky have been swift – Canberra decided to buy the Black Hawk in early 2023, and the first trio reached Australia in August that year.

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The dozen aircraft are based in Holsworthy to support special forces and counterterrorism. Brigadier Andy Thomas, deputy commander of Army Aviation Command, told Shephard: “Over the past 12 months or so, we’ve done helicopter insertion and extraction training, we’ve done special operations training activities including interagency counterterrorism exercises, and we’ve also done first-of-class flight trials with the multirole aviation craft Sycamore.”

Brigadier Steve Cleggett, director general of Army Aviation Systems at the Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group, revealed that seven further UH-60Ms would reach Australia by year’s end, giving a fleet of 19.

Their arrival will permit a second Black Hawk node to be set up in Oakey from July. This will enable Australia-based training to commence there towards the end of 2025. An aircrew simulator was installed at Holsworthy in early February, and another will be located at Oakey.

The remaining 21 UH-60Ms are slated to reach Australia by 2030, with the army expecting final operating clearance to be announced at that point.

Thomas noted Australia’s first Black Hawk tranche was identical to US troop-carrying UH-60Ms in order to accelerate delivery. Baseline Australian aircraft, however, will receive modifications such as a nose-mounted colour weather radar. Earlier aircraft will be retrofitted in Australia, while later deliveries will have all the extras installed on the production line.

Australia will field just one Black Hawk configuration for multiple battlefield utility roles. Cleggett explained these are not unique Australian modifications but reduced-risk ones “that have been done on other platform variants that we’re implementing in our configuration”.

In August 2023, Lockheed Martin Australia and the army signed a five-year A$340 million (US$211 million) contract to provide integrated maintenance, training, supply and engineering support services.

Apache fits Army’s vision for crewed-uncrewed teaming

Turning to the Apache, Australia will receive 29 AH-64E Version 6 attack helicopters to be based in Townsville. Thomas said the AH-64E “has significantly more firepower capacity, but it also has a much-enhanced sensor package that gives us a greater ability to sense on the battlefield, and also to integrate across the joint force”.

Naomi Smith, director, sustainment operations for Boeing Defence Australia, told Shephard that Boeing is “on schedule to deliver the first four Apaches in 2025”. IOC is expected in 2028, and final delivery should occur by 2029, at which time FOC is expected.

Asked about the relationship between unmanned systems and attack helicopters, Cleggett said: “It’s really important that you have both of those options on the table, and really important as well we don’t just look at a single conflict. There’s a range of different conflicts that have different requirements, and so you have to use the right tool for the right job. At the moment, a crewed platform, in some circumstances, is the best tool, and sometimes an uncrewed platform is, and sometimes you want both.”

Thomas shared that the army’s concept for manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) is “two Apache aircraft in flight – one fitted with a MUM-T antenna and the other with Longbow fire control radar – so our fleet will be fitted with a mix of those two systems”.

The army would not divulge how many AN/APG-78 Longbow and MUMT-X antennas Australia is acquiring, other than that there will be a 50/50 split operationally, plus spares. However, antennas should be more reliable than radars, so comparatively fewer MUMT-X antennas are required than Longbows.

On Australian MUM-T aspirations, Thomas said: “We’ve got Integrator coming into service. We have a number of small UAVs, for example, but there’s also work being done looking at air-launched effects, loitering munitions – all those sort of things – that might be integrated with the Apache capability.

“The Apache is going to be an enduring capability for a long time,” he continued. “The development cycle of some of these uncrewed systems is going to be many cycles within that lifetime. So what we’re focused on is ensuring that we have the capability that’ll be able to take advantage of those systems in the future.”

In December 2023, Boeing Defence Australia was awarded an initial seven-year contract worth A$306 million (US$190 million) to sustain Australia’s Apache fleet. Two Longbow crew trainers will be sited in Townsville.

Australia has 22 Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopters, but some fear the fleet will meet the same ignominious end as the Taipans. Cleggett, however, said that “the Tiger is still an active capability for us, and so we’re committed to supporting it until it’s no longer required”, which is expected to be around 2027–28.

Cleggett elaborated: “It’s a pretty deliberate process. All the options are on the table at the moment, and we’ve commenced the planning, but obviously no decisions because it’s an active capability right now which we intend to support through to planned withdrawal.” Options include reaching out to other users and understanding Ukrainian requirements.

Last December, the army’s 14-strong CH-47F Chinook fleet achieved 20,000 flying hours. Elsewhere, five H135 T3 helicopters joined 15 Airbus H135 T2+ helicopters at the Nowra-based Helicopter Aircrew Training System programme. These surplus Juno HT.1 helicopters are being leased from the UK for five years.

Thomas concluded: “This current transition, which is going to deliver us that modern, proven, reliable and affordable fleet, puts us in a very good position for the coming decades”. The army thus has plenty of time to assess the US Army’s Future Vertical Lift programme as it contemplates the more distant future.

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UH-60L/M Black Hawk

AN/APG-78 Longbow

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