Australia's New MC-55 Peregrine Electronic Warfare Jet Breaks Cover & More News Here

The first recognized photograph has surfaced of Australia’s latest intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and digital warfare plane, a extremely modified model of the Gulfstream G550 enterprise jet, as is seen on the prime of this story.

The plane, dubbed the MC-55A Peregrine by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), was noticed flying from Gulfstream’s plant in Savannah, Georgia. Photographer Aaron Perlupo, who may be discovered on Instagram at @aarons_airplanes, was sort sufficient to share his picture of the plane with The War Zone.

The airframe, configured with what have been described as “airborne intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and electronic warfare” (AISREW) mission methods, bristles with antennas and has a recognizable stomach “canoe” that comprises further sensors. A definite inexperienced colour on the plane fuselage reveals that it’s not full or, on the very least, it’s not but painted in its remaining colour.

The RAAF has plans to purchase as many as 5 of the plane, though studies state that 4 plane are actually deliberate. There isn’t any indication of when the Australians will take supply of the brand new jet, though this 12 months was initially the plan. As with most navy plane, renderings of the completed jet present it in a flat grey livery.

The plane tail quantity N5540GA reveals it belongs to the U.S. Air Force with an handle at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, which is probably going as a result of the plane are procured by way of a overseas navy gross sales (FMS) program administered by the Air Force. The 645th Aeronautical Systems Group, nicknamed the Big Safari, based mostly at Wright Patterson, often manages particular missions FMS packages just like the MC-55A.

Notable options of Australia’s distinctive configuration seen within the photograph embrace a dorsally mounted satellite tv for pc communications antenna farm and a big satcom antenna fairing on the highest of the vertical stabilizer. Australia’s MC-55A doesn’t sport the cheek fairings housing energetic electronically scanned array radars which can be a staple on the conformal early warning (CAEW) variations of the G550 that Italy, Singapore, and Israel fly. Those included on the U.S. Navy’s NC-37B vary monitoring jet and the Air Force’s upcoming EC-37B Compass Call plane, each of that are additionally based mostly on the G550.

Australia’s jet contains a bulbous tail cone housing similar to what’s seen on the CAEW, and what seems to be like an built-in electro-optical infrared (EO/IR) turret beneath the tail, though that is also one other dome with some type of emitter inside. On the underside of the jet, we see a tell-tale antenna farm that’s used for digital and communications intelligence-gathering and communications relay work.

It will not be recognized for sure what capabilities Australia’s MC-55A could have, however based mostly on the title and gear seen on the plane, it’s more likely to carry out some mixture of digital warfare (EW), alerts intelligence (SIGINT), and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. We can even count on it to be able to working as a networking relay and data-fusion platform that can tie different RAAF plane and ships collectively digitally.

That mission profile meshes with Australia’s broad efforts to spice up its EW and ISR capabilities by way of a complete modernization plan you may learn extra about on this previous War Zone characteristic. Simply put, the RAAF is changing into one of the crucial succesful air arms on the subject of dominating the RF realm.

The digital assault portion of the MC-55A’s mission is most intriguing. It could be honest to postulate that the kind borrowed the rear AESA array from the CAEW and added a strong AESA sort within the canoe, providing the power to execute digital assaults at standoff ranges, in addition to collect intelligence. It is not clear right now what the Peregrine’s floor mapping and ground-moving goal indication (GMTI) capabilities are, or whether it is able to gathering this intelligence in any respect. If certainly it options AESA arrays in its canoe and tail, it might make sense that it might have at the least a latent functionality on this regard.

It can be doable that this plane is a passive intelligence assortment part of a bigger digital warfare ecosystem and doesn’t have AESAs or different energetic digital warfare emitters. Still, the inclusion of the CAEW tail and the massive ventral canoe makes this risk a bit lower than possible.

There is nothing within the U.S. fleet that encompasses so many roles because the MC-55A. Instead, these capabilities are damaged up amongst quite a lot of platforms. Miniaturization of parts and the appearance of highly effective AESA arrays, in addition to the power to push knowledge off the amassing platform by way of high-bandwidth satellite tv for pc datalink in close to real-time for dissemination, have clearly allowed an plane just like the MC-55A to change into a actuality. It will likely be fascinating to see if different allied nations pursue an analogous configuration.

The Air Force’s upcoming EC-37B might be the closest analog to the MC-55A that will likely be in U.S. service. Compass Call gear put in on USAF EC-130H plane already performs each digital intelligence gathering and digital warfare missions. Those plane are being changed with the modified CAEW model of the Gulfstream G550, the aforementioned EC-37B. But this plane has a much more targeted mission than the MC-55A.

Still, there’s a direct connection of kinds between the U.S. Air Force and RAAF variations of the G550. L3Harris Technologies is liable for the mixing of EW applied sciences and different methods in each airframes at its facility in Greenville, Texas. BAE Systems is also liable for some electronics and mission gear on the EC-37B.

A succesful plane in its personal proper, the G550 can keep aloft for 15 hours and cruise at about 600 miles per hour with a service ceiling of 51,000 ft. That ought to permit its sensors to carry out communications and alerts intelligence interception, in addition to any potential digital assaults and radar monitoring, at a variety of about 400 kilometers.

The U.S. State Department gave its approval to Australia in 2017 to buy as much as 5 of the modified jets, their specialised methods, and lifelong end-to-end help, together with coaching, floor management interfaces, and different infrastructure and companies. The complete deal is claimed to price $1.3 billion.

“The Peregrine is a new airborne electronic warfare capability that will be integrated into Defence’s joint warfighting networks, providing a critical link between platforms, including the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter, E-7A Wedgetail, EA-18G Growler, Navy’s surface combatants, and amphibious assault ships and ground assets to support the warfighter,” then-Australian Defence Minister Christopher Pyne said in a 2019 statement announcing the deal for four MC-55As.

Plans are to base the Peregrin aircraft at RAAF Base Edinburgh on the coast of South Australia, where the country is headquartering much of its maritime surveillance capabilities, including the P-8A Poseidon, MQ-4C Triton high-altitude long-endurance drones, and its MQ-9 Reaper fleet.

“This functionality and the individuals who function it is going to carry Air Force nearer to changing into a completely networked fifth-generation drive and additional exploit the joint fight multiplier results on workouts and operations,” Pyne said. 

Pyne and then Minister for Defence Industry Senator Linda Reynolds announced the acquisition of the aircraft in a March 18 joint statement which confirmed the plane would be based at RAAF Edinburgh near Adelaide, the home base of RAAF Surveillance & Response Group (SRG).

Short of conflict, Australia, the U.S. and allies are investing heavily in technologies that can keep a persistent eye on Chinese activity in the Pacific. Some of those capabilities, like Australia’s P-8s and the U.S. RC-135V/W Rivet Joint spy planes, have been flying up against Chinese forces in the region for years. They are also being employed to surveil Chinese military expansion and activities in the Pacific and elsewhere. These platforms and others are highly important as they can build up a picture of China’s electronic order of battle at any given time.

Aside from the MC-55 aircraft, the RAAF has also fielded the EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft. When you add these two airframes to Australia’s fleet of F/A-18 Super Hornets, F-35As — which are capable of electronic attack and electronic intelligence collection platforms in their own right — as well as P-8 Poseidons, MQ-4C Tritons, and future loyal wingman drones that can carry their own electronic warfare packages, the RAAF is clearly positioning itself as one of the most electronically aware and combat-capable air arms on the planet.

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