The Australian Department of Defense (DOD) has signed a contract with American multinational aerospace and defense company Raytheon to provide training services support to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
The package will see Raytheon train the RAAF on its F/A-18F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler aircraft, which the DOD said are critical to the RAAF’s combat fleet.
The AU $109.7 million ($ 76 million) contract will employ up to 49 personnel from Raytheon Australia and an Australian subcontractor, Milskil. The majority of the training services will be delivered from RAAF Base Amberley.
“This initial five-year $109.7 million contract will deliver ground-based simulator training support including maintenance and engineering as well as aircrew training services such as instruction, courseware development and force generation tasks,” DoD Aerospace Combat Systems director general air commodore Leanne Lee said in a statement dated August 1, 2022.
“This new electronic attack air combat training support contract will ensure our RAAF personnel retain their edge through high-quality F/A-18F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler training,” Lee added.
The EA-18G Growler is an electronic attack aircraft capable of disrupting, deceiving and denying a broad range of military electronic systems, including radars and communications.
The F/A-18F Super Hornet has been in-service for more than a decade and is a key air combat capability.