보잉, 호주 공군용 그라울러 첫 기체 출고

http://aviationweek.com/defense/first-raaf-growler-rolls-out-st-louis

The addition of the AT-FLIR system grew out of lessons from U.S. operations in Libya and, later Syria, according to Rear Adm. Donald Gaddis, the Navy’s program executive officer for tactical aircraft. He said to get weapon-quality tracks and kills on ground targets, the Growler operators used their onboard threat detection systems and active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars to locate threats. But they had to use the onboard Multifunction Information Distribution System (MIDS) and Link 16 datalinks to request “eyes on target” from offboard AT-FLIRs on the Super Hornet or other aircraft in order to validate some targets.

“In the other airplanes, they were taking the datalink tracks [from the Growlers] and slewing their sensors onto the targets. That is where the AT-FLIR came in,” he told reporters following the Growler rollout ceremony in St. Louis. Together, “the Growler, the Super Hornet and the datalink – especially the MIDS and the Link 16 messages – it worked pretty well. We took a lot of lessons from that ... when you do that you are decreasing the kill chain even more because you don’t have to datalink to another AT-FLIR. You have got it on your airplane.”

Thus, the Navy is considering incorporating the FLIR into its configuration, he said. “One of the big lessons out of Libya was the need to have an electro-optical pod on the platform,” Gaddis said. The AT-FLIR and AIM-9X are already capable of operating on the Super Hornet, making their use on the Growler a fairly simply add, said Dan Gillian, Boeing’s program manager for the Super Hornet and Growler.

The RAAF is buying 12 Growlers, which were put on contract in June 2014, Boeing officials say. Total program cost is about $3.7 billion.

“The Growlers will complement our existing and future air combat capability and will be much more lethal with this [airborne electronic attack] protection,” says Brown, chief of the RAAF until his recent retirement. “In many respects, it is the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle for the RAAF.” Australia also is likely to be key for U.S. operations in the Pacific region. “It is my belief that the Navy planners in the Pacific are counting on the Australians and their air force to be a part of whatever contingency” may come up, Gaddis said.