The Royal Australian Air Force's fleet of F-111G aircraft has been successfully updated with an advanced Digital Flight Control System.
The $32 million modification project, contracted to Lockheed Martin, follows a major avionics update for the C model aircraft in the F-111 fleet.
At a brief ceremony at the F-111 home base at Amberley Air Commodore Garry Bates, Director General Aerospace Combat Systems marked the completion of the project as a major achievement for the Defence Materiel Organisation and Defence Industry.
The ceremony represented the culmination of five years of intensive planning and technical integration efforts, all performed on time and on cost. Air Commodore Bates presented Certificates of Appreciation to Lockheed Martin, Tenix Defence Systems, Ball Aerospace Australia and the F-111G Project Office.
Officer Commanding the recently formed Strike Reconnaissance Systems Program Office, Group Captain Gary Thies, said the use of an Integrated Project Team concept was a critical success factor for the project.
"The concept combined the technical and managerial talents of the DMO's F-111G Project Office, the F-111 Block Update Project Office at Amberley, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company (Fort Worth), and its sub-contractor Tenix Defence Systems Naval /Air Projects and Support Division, and Ball Aerospace Australia.
"The partnering approach also allowed the Project Office to trial the use of contractors providing project management services through Ball Aerospace Australia, the first 'insourcing' of this level of support from a commercial enterprise within the DMO," he said.
Group Captain Thies said the Project Office had been confronted with a series of rapidly changing engineering criteria and a demanding integration schedule but the team remain focussed on the schedule and quality of work.
"All of the aircraft were completed ahead of an already aggressive schedule and the system functional checks were also completed without a hitch," he said.
He particularly noted the level of commitment shown by the contractors and Production Office staff associated with the installation phase.
In addition to the Digital Flight Control System, the project also included the installation of a crash data recording system, a data transfer system and an upgrade of the complex operational software in the mission computer system.
At today's ceremony, the last of the modified aircraft was handed over to the Officer Commanding No 82 Wing, Group Captain Kev Paule.
