Page 12 - AVALON 2023 - Day 3 | DAILY NEWS
P. 12
ADDITIONAL
© ADF
LEASED AW139S
TO FILL GAPS IN
ARMY RANKS
Leonardo announced on 1 March that the Helicopter programme supporting the 5th Regiment are operating the AW139s from
Australian Army would lease two additional Aviation Regiment in Townsville. Hamel Lines at RAAF Base Townsville.
AW139 helicopters, adding to three previ- The helicopters were needed to augment
ously leased in the same fashion from Toll The army received its first leased AW139 training, for transport (e.g. supporting exer-
Helicopters. They come with a searchlight, on 30 April 2021, and two more in May and cises), emergency relief and non-combat
hoist, cargo hook and provision for elec- October the same year. The Department general aviation support.
tro-optic/infrared sensors. of Defence stated that Helicorp, which is
trading as Toll Helicopters, has ‘met all mile- Defence said, ‘The helicopters have similar
The extra pair of AW139s will come from stones, with training, aircraft serviceability performance to the MRH90 and will be used
Leonardo’s final assembly line in Italy, and and flying hour requirements exceeding to support aircrew development and cur-
will be delivered in the second half of 2023. expectations’. rency requirements when combat aircraft
This will bring to twelve the number of are not available.’
AW139s that Toll is operating in Australia, Helicorp is providing the trio of white-
of which five are dedicated to the Australian painted AW139s for an initial two-year Indeed, the need for the supplemental
Army. period. Indeed, the original contract ends AW139s was made manifest by low-
on 30 June this year, but options for two er-than-desirable availability rates for the
One of the AW139s will be used as a 12-month extensions exist. MRH90 Taipan helicopter fleet. Since that
crash response helicopter service for the time, the Australian government has dis-
1st Aviation Regiment in Darwin, while Under this programme, also known as Plan closed that the MRH90 will be discarded in
the other will join the Army Commercial Corella, army personnel of the 5th Aviation favour of the UH-60M Black Hawk.
WASP SUAS
SUCCESSOR
STILL
AWAITS
The Australian Army acquired a total of 66
Wasp AE small uncrewed aerial systems
(SUAS) from AeroVironment in 2018-21.
This acquisition fell under Project Land
129 Phase 4A, but the army is looking for
a replacement for the Wasp via a request
for tender (RfT) issued in January 2022.
Earlier, in July 2021, the Capability © ADF
Acquisition & Sustainment Group (CASG)
had released an advance notice for this intelligence, surveillance and reconnais- It also needs to be man-portable, capable of
replacement programme known logically sance capability, as well as increased force day/night operations and weigh less than
as Land 129 Phase 4B. The new SUAS, in protection. 15kg. Its range should be 7-10km from the
quantities of 60-80 depending upon cost, ground control station, with an endurance
is to be acquired in FY2024/25. The army would specify neither a fixed- of 45-60 minutes.
wing or VTOL platform, but it must be
CASG said the army is seeking ‘a system recoverable on land or by an operator in a This RfT closed on 4 March 2022, but
with better performance than the Wasp AE’ small boat. The latter requirement means it no winner has been announced yet by
to give army combat teams an independent should float for at least 15 minutes. Defence.
12 | MARCH-02-2023 WWW.GBP.COM.SG/DAILY NEWS
