ABC TV Documentary on Australian F18

Last night (8:30pm, 29 October 2007) the Australian Broadcasting Corporation ran a program "Flying Blind" critical of the decision for Australia to buy F/A-18F Super Hornets as an interim replacement for the F111. It is also critical of the decision to buy the F-35 JSF:

For more than 30 years Australia has rested its security on the seemingly ageless wings of its F-111 fighter fleet.

But in aviation circles these days there are doubts and rumblings. Some experts fear Australia is set to give away its crucial air superiority in the region.

The reason, they claim, is that decision-makers have made the wrong choices about the planes that will replace the F-111s.

From: "Flying Blind"? Four Corners, 8.30 pm Monday 29 October.

Available from the ABC are:

1. Program Transcript

2. Video On Demand

3. Background Reading

4. Discussion Forum

The program seemed a little one sided, with a few people interviewed at length on the F-18's faults and only a few small segments on its strengths. Also the program seemed to mix up the roles of smaller fighter aircraft, such as the Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon larger aircraft such as the Sukhoi Su-30/35/37 'Flanker'.

There was also some confusion over "generations" of aircraft. The Wikipedia entry for "Fighter Aircraft" describes the Rafale, Typhoon, 'Flanker' and the Super Hornet as "Generation 4.5 (1990-2000)", which seems reasonable. The F/A-18 Hornet is described as Fourth generation (1970-1990). The F-111 is not listed as it is a medium-range strategic bomber, reconnaissance, and tactical strike aircraft not a fighter.

Also the program seemed to miss the point that the Super Hornets were more stealthily than the F-18, plus have a very advanced radar and electronics, similar to that of the F-35. The Super Hornets are intended to operate in concert with each other, sharing data and with the Boeing Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) aircraft. It should even be possible to share data with troops on the ground by podcast for Network Centric Warfare.

The program seemed to alternate between criticism of the Super Hornets for being outdated and the F-35 for being not yet available. Given the choices currently available to the Australian Government, it seems to me to be reasonable to buy something proven to work now (Super Hornets) and keep the option to buy something better later, if it works (F-35). It is likely that the Super Hornet will work so well that Australia will skip the F-35 and instead buy UAVs later, along with converted civilian airliners.

Other options

It should also be noted that on 20 July the Australian Minister for Defense announced that Australia will spend $4B on the P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol and Response Aircraft (MPRA) to replace the AP-3C Orion. The MPRA is a modified Boeing 737 airliner, but it can carry about the weight of weapons as an F-111 and has a longer range. While not suitable for use in contested airspace, it would be useful for asymmetric warfare.

The RAAF has already ordered the Boeing Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control aircraft (AEW&C) , which is also based on the 737. The P-8A requires more modifications for an internal weapons bay and under wing pylons.

It is likely the aircraft will also be used for electronic surveillance and signals interception (SIGINT and ELINT). The aircraft have a lot of room, compared to the typical military aircraft, to carry rack mounted supercomputers for real time processing of signals and to act as a flying web server to distribute information to other aircraft, ships and vehicles.


Mix of F/A-18F Super Hornets, UAVs and Carrier F-35s for Australia?

The Australian government's decision to buy the F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter/attack aircraft seems a reasonable one. The Super Hornet is a two seat derivative of the F/A-18 Hornet currently in service with the RAAF.

The Super Hornet would be used as a stop gap due to a delay in the availability of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. These are to replace the F111s due for retirement in 2010.

The F/A-18F is relatively new design, has the advantage of being proven in service but is not a stealth aircraft like the F-35. While the Australian plan seems to be to only order enough Super Hornets as a temporary stopgap, it may make sense to retain them to replace the older F/A-18s. Australian could then consider if F-35s are needed, or if their job could be better done with UAVs exploiting advanced computers and telecommunications technology.

Lockheed Martin have proposed an UAV derivative of the F-35, with a typical mission consisting of four unmanned JSFs controlled from two piloted F-35 or F-22s. Sensor information would be shared between the aircraft via datalinks. However, the F-35 and F-22 are both single seat aircraft, leaving the pilot little time to fly another two aircraft remotely. In contrast the F/A-18F has two seats, making it more feasible for one of the crew to control the UAVs.

Australia could also consider a mix of land based F/A-18Fs and F-35B Short Take-Off Vertical Landing (STOVL) aircraft based on the new Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ships, which are essentially small aircraft carriers. The F-35B stealth capabilities would complement the longer range of the F/A-18F.

See also books on:

• Military Technology
• UAVs
• F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program
• Network Centric Warfare
• airborne early warning and control aircraft

Supercapacitors for Joint Strike Fighter?

Lockheed are reported to be having problems providing enough power for the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter which CSIRO's supercapacitors might fix. The F35 uses large amounts of electrical power short periods for the electro-hydrostatic flight control actuators to steer the plane. Lockheed's solution is a bigger generator, which will be under-used most of the time. The supercapacitors were developed by CSIRO to supplement batteries in electric cars, as capacitors can absorb power much quicker than a battery can.

Optionally piloted UAVs

In a talk at the Australian Defence Force Academy last year, I mentioned that one option being looked at for future military aircraft was optionally manned (or piloted) or flow with no one on board as a UAVs.

These are civilian or military aircraft modified to be flow without a pilot. This can be useful where sometimes a crew is needed, to fly the aircraft where UAVs are not permitted or where people are needed to do things a computer can't.

At present these are mostly proposals, not real systems. The German built Diamond DA42 civilian twin engine light aircraft, adapted for surveillance., is offered as an "Optional Piloted Surveillance and Reconnaissance System". Further in the future Lockheed Martin has proposed a pilotless F-35 fighter.

Recently Boeing has proposed an optionally manned Gulfstream G550 business jet for the US Navy’s Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) project. On a smaller scale, the current crop of very light jets (VLJ), would seem suitable. These have advanced electronic avionics which are adaptable to remote control, carbon fiber construction which can be modified for sensors and are intended to be produced in large numbers at low cost (starting at $1M). Most have two engines, but units such as the Eclipse ECJ have a single engine.

Safe Robot Aircraft for Australian Aircraft Carrier?

Dr Mark Nicholson from University of York was recently in Australia to teach Systems Safety Engineering. I bumped into him at the coffee shop and the next day he gave a presentation at the ACS Software Sig.

One interesting application Mark mentioned was safety analysis needed to allow UAVs (Robot Aircraft) to fly in the same airspace with piloted aircraft. The rules which are used to assess if an aircraft is safe to fly assume there is a pilot in it. So changes need to be made for when the pilot is actually sitting on the ground, flying the aircraft by remote control and, at least part of the time, a computer program is flying the aircraft.

Having a computer fly a plane might sound risky, but Mark pointed out that most modern aircraft are being flown by a computer most of the time now. Modern airliners, such as those from Airbus are controlled by a computer, with the pilots controls actually input devices to the computer, much like a computer game. Most of the time the computer is flying the aircraft with the pilot monitoring the systems.

Mark pointed out an even more demanding application is where military UAVs and piloted aircraft are taking off and landing on an aircraft carrier at sea. The relatively orderly process of air traffic control used at a civilian airport doesn't apply.

Australia may be in need of Mark's skills for the Amphibious Ships Project. Defence plans to buy two large "Landing Helicopter Dock" ships to carry helicopters and landing craft. These will be large enough to also operate UAVs and F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. But stopping the helicopters, fighters and robot aircraft from running into each other will need some carefully designed software.

Even a relatively small UAV, such as the Bell Eagle Eye, Model 918 tiltrotor would pose a considerable risk to other aircraft operating from the ship. Armed UAVs would pose a further risk.

ps: The Landing Helicopter Dock ships are likely to be a Spanish design from the company "Navantia". The decision is years away, but recently the Defense Department is reported to have decided on Navantia's F100 destroyer. Having bought one ship from Navantia, it makes sense to buy another from the same company.

Small Stealth UAV?

An alternative to piloted F-35 stealth aircraft for Australia might be small UAVs. These would cost around $2M each, allowing forty to be purchased for the cost of one F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter or F/A18F. The UAVs would use engines and weapons from the Australian military inventory and off the self electronics.

The US built Ryan Model 324 Scarab/BQM-145A UAV is used by the Egyptian Air Force for reconance. The Scarab is launched from a truck mounted rail with rocket assistance, and recovered by parachute. The Scarab is essentially a reusable unarmed cruse missile. In contrast the EADS Barracuda UAV is a larger conventional wheeled aircraft, allowing it to take off from a runway and with provision for weapons to be carried.

The turbojet engine of the Scarab is similar to that of the Harpoon cruse missile currently in service with the RAAF. The Teledyne J402 turbojet gives the missile a high subsonic speed and good fuel economy. The Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) planned for introduction to the RAAF has a similar engine. The AGM-158A has inertial navigation, GPS, an imaging infrared seeker and data link making it, in effect a disposable armed UAV. However, the cost of JASSM is high, as it can only be used once.

The small turbojet engine design of the Scarab could be combined with the wheels and weapons of the Barracuda to produce a small armed UAV which could operate from a conventional runway. Such an aircraft might be 4 m long, with a 2m wingspan, weigh 1,000 kg, with a speed of 800kph and range of 2,000 km. Typical armament would be one AGM-114 Hellfire air to ground missile or two FIM-92A Stinger air to air missiles (as used on Australian Tiger Helicopters).

The aircraft would be transportable in an NH90 Helicopter or a standard shipping container. To lower the cost, Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) computers could be used. The aircraft could be equipped with an airborne web server and controlled via a web browser. Automotive components, such as the Controller Area Network (CAN) could be used to further lower cost.

The aircraft would be a limited Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV), unlike systemns such as the Boeing Joint Unmanned Combat Air System X-45. The X-45 is much larger with a 10.31m wingspan comparable with a small piloted aircraft. However, at a much lower cost a small UAV would be useful for limited surveillance and attack. It would cause an adversary considerable difficulties, as they would not easily detected.

The small UAV would be useful for attacking small low value targets such as vehicles and small ships, including improvised fighting vehicles ("technicals") and vessels ("boghammars"). Due to its limited armament, the UAV would be less likely to cause concern to Australia's neighbors than full size stealth aircraft and long range cruse missiles.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Adelaide, set the building of a miniature radio controlled F-35 VTOL model aircraft as a project in 2004. A conventional larger model would be much less difficult a task. The development of at least an unarmed UAV would be within the capabilities of Australian university researchers.

The US has had difficulties building such Medium Range UAVs, with one program being cancelled in 1993. However, the technology has advanced since then, with carbon fibre being used for UAVs, such as the Australian Aerosonde and COTS computers and low cost commercial avionics being available.

e-Stores in French, German and Japanese

Amazon has a facility for setting up your own "store" to sell their products on commission. After setting up one for Amazon.com (the US based site in English), I set one up with the German, French and Japanese sites. This was challenging, as I don't speak any of these languages. The Japanese site offers an English interface for shoppers, but not for the resellers. The German and French sites offer no English at all.

I used a web translation service to translate the Amazon interface to English. That wasn't so hard for German and French, but more difficult for Japanese. It was not just a matter of word translation, as an example, I found that postal addresses are entered the opposite way around than in English (with state, city, street instead of street, city and state). But I managed to get through all that.

To see what it looked like, I then translated the sites back to English from French, German, and Japanese.

After carefully translating headings and sub headings into each of the languages I discovered when translated back they were all nonsense. So I put the captions in English. The hope is that English speakers will be attracted to the site for products which they can't get at the US Amazon site (the Japanese seem to be obsessed with AI fuzzy logic rice cookers). This even applies to the UK Amazon, which is in English, but has different products to the US Amazon.

As an example the US amazon has a poor selection of high speed models of toy trains. This is because the USA doesn't have many real high speed trains. In contrast the UK Amazon offers models of the Eurostar and German Amazon the ICE and Thalis very fast trains.

Apart from that I created speciality stores on subjects from Accessible Web Design to Walter Burley Griffin. Full list:

• Accessible Web Design: Web site testing and General Accessibility for web pages.
  
• Australian Bush Hats: Hats, Oilskin Coats, Saddles, Boots and Books of Australian Outback.
  
• Canberra: History, Travel and Architecture of the city of Canberra.
  
• Car PCs: Build a PC for your car. Books and parts with a step by step guide to building a personal computer into a car for entertainment, GPS navigation and car diagnostics. With: Car PCs, LCD Screens and On Board Diagnostics (OBD)Equipment.
  
• Film, TV and Video Games Industry: Books on Film Making, TV Production, Games Industry, Electronics, Cameras and Photography.
  
• GPS Car Navigation Systems: Units, Books and DVDs on the Global Positioning System (GPS).
  
• Home Office Products: Computer and telecommunications equipment for your small or home office. With ADSL Modems, Routers, VOIP, Skype Phones, Wi-Fi, Printers, Scanners, PCs, Add-ons, Software, UPS and Fire Safes.
  
• Computer Education Products: Books and other training materials for the International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL/ECDL) computer literacy standard.
  
• Military Technology: Books on UAVs, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program, Network Centric Warfare, airborne early warning and control aircraft.
  
• International Sporting Events: Clothes, Books, DVDs and Related Products
  from the Olympic Games and other events.
  
• Robots: Robot kits, books and videos. Build and program your own robot or see how others have done it. With: Lego Mindstorms and the iRobot Roomba Robotic Vacuum.
  
• RSS Feeds: Books about RSS and Atom Feeds, Podcasting and Blogging
  
• Smart Apartment: Home Automation, Fuzzy Logic Products, Home Theatre and Wide Screen TV.
  
• Trains: Train Books, Model Railways, Rail Travel Books and DVDs
  
• Universal Service
  
• USB: Universal Serial Bus (USB) devices and information.
  
• Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin: Architects of Canberra, town planners and landscape architecture.

Mix of F/A-18F Super Hornets UAVs and Carrier F-35s for Australia?

The Australian government is considering buying 24 F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter/attack aircraft. The Super Hornet is a two seat derivative of the F/A-18 Hornet currently in service with the RAAF.

The Super Hornet would be used as a stop gap due to a delay in the availability of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. These are to replace the F111s due for retirement in 2010.

The F/A-18F is relatively new design, has the advantage of being proven in service but is not a stealth aircraft like the F-35. While the Australian plan seems to be to only order enough Super Hornets as a temporary stopgap, it may make sense to retain them to replace the older F/A-18s. Australian could then consider if F-35s are needed, or if their job could be better done with UAVs exploiting advanced computers and telecommunications technology.

Lockheed Martin have proposed an UAV derivative of the F-35, with a typical mission consisting of four unmanned JSFs controlled from two piloted F-35 or F-22s. Sensor information would be shared between the aircraft via datalinks. However, the F-35 and F-22 are both single seat aircraft, leaving the pilot little time to fly another two aircraft remotely. In contrast the F/A-18F has two seats, making it more feasible for one of the crew to control the UAVs.

Australia could also consider a mix of land based F/A-18Fs and F-35B Short Take-Off Vertical Landing (STOVL) aircraft based on the new Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ships, which are essentially small aircraft carriers. The F-35B stealth capabilities would complement the longer range of the F/A-18F.

Sliver Solar Cells for Military And Domestic Use

Professor Andrew Blakers presented an inspirational talk today, on the Australian National University's sliver solar cell technology. But what is needed is more research funding to develop the technology into a usable product. Andrew sees the cells being cheap enough to be installed by individual householders and businesses, as well as for solar power stations.

At present solar cells are cost effective for remote locations off the grid, such as Illawong Lodge and Kings Canyon:

Illawong Ski Tourers manages Illawong Lodge, located at about 1600 metres altitude in Kosciuszko National Park, New South Wales, Australia. Illawong is several kilometres from the nearest roads, power, gas, water, sewer, telephones, ski lifts, and other services. ...

The first hut built here in 1925-26 was called Pounds Creek. ... The lodge consists of four small rooms with a roof and walls of iron, floor of wood, lined. It includes an innovative high-country solar power system for lighting.

From: Illawong Ski Tourers

Kings Canyon is a high-profile tourist resort in Central Australia's Watarrka National Park in the arid zone. The remote resort previously relied on a diesel-fuelled power station. ... Peak power demand in the Northern Territory closely matches solar availability, with the peak occurring early afternoon. The PV system provides peak load and is run in tandem with a smaller diesel engine. Battery storage is not required since the diesel engines supplement ...

From: Kings Canyon Solar Power Station, Australian Business Council - Sustainable Energy 2006

However, research funding is likely to come for more exotic applications first. The first uses for solar cells were military and remote uses in telecommucations.

Some which the sliver cells might be applied to are:

1. Solar Building Panels for China: The usual location for solar collectors on buildings is the roof. However, high rise buildings have only limited roof space. An alternative would be to use the same micro-louver technology as for military vehicles (below) and build the cells in to wall and window panels. Sun facing vertical panels would have cells arranged horizontally facing up towards the sun. For windows, sufficient space would be left between the cells to allow the occupants to have a view out the window. The cells could be made in aluminum frames as a direct replacement for domestic and commercial cladding, balcony balistrades and windows. Such panels could be used by the million for Shanghai offices and apartment blocks.
2. Lightweight solar panels for the F-35 Lightening II JSF: Sliver cell panels could be incorporated into the sun shields used to protect aircraft cockpits on the ground. This would have the dual function of cooling the cocpit and providing power to keep the aircraft batteries charged. The sliver cell shades would be light, flexible and compact enough to be stowed aboard the aircraft for deployment. Research for this could be funded under the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) project.
   
3. Solar generating windows for military vehicles: Military vehicles, such as the Australian ADI Bushmaster Infantry Mobility Vehicle have difficulty keeping the occupants cool in desert regions and supplying sufficient electrical power for equipment. These vehicles have flat armored windows which could be fitted with sliver cell panels. The cells could be arranged as micro-louvers to shade the interior of the vehicle, while optimizing solar collection to power equipment. The silver cells have an anti-reflective coating which would enhance the situational awareness of the occupants of the vehicle, while reducing the visible and infrared signature. The ability to generate electricity would reduce the fuel consumption of the vehicle and its sound signature when stationary, as the diesel engine would not need to be run as much.

Movie designs better than the real thing?

Last Saturday I attended a talk by Gavin Tyrrell (aka "IronGav") on "designing for screen". This was organized by the Centre for New Media Arts at ANU and held ay the National Museum of Australia.

Gavin described the process for producing the images on computer screens in the movie "Superman Returns". One scene which got my attention was a fictional X-35 fighter jet tracking superman. The radar cockpit display was shown. Gavin explained that they developed this display from information for the real X-35 aircraft, but made it look more dramatic than the real thing for film use.

The X-35 was the prototype of the real F-35 aircraft, which Australia is considering buying. The Australian Defence Department has asked for input from University researchers on developing the F-35.

It occurred to me that not only computer scientists, but digital artists might assist, by designing the cockpit displays in the real aircraft. The skills used to quickly tell a story visually in a film could be used to quickly convey information to a pilot.

I suggested this at a talk I gave at the Australian Defence Force Academy on Monday on how to podcast from the F-35.