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Air Warfare

The RAN does not possess aircraft carriers and thus has no capability to deploy organic fixed wing aircraft. This means that the ADF must not only always plan for maritime air warfare on a joint basis but its naval forces must also ensure that they possess the capacity to defend themselves in the absence of fixed wing air. The provision of air cover for seaborne forces by land based aircraft is a highly demanding task that becomes progressively more difficult as the range between the air base and the theater of operations increases and which has to be balanced against other tasking. Combat Air Patrols (CAP) will be provided by the RAAF's F/A-18 fighters or, under certain conditions, by the F-111 as Active Air Defence. This will be one part of the Counter Air operation undertaken by the Air Component of the Joint force, which may also include Offensive Operations.

Counter Air activities to reduce the adversary's capacity to control the air. The endurance of F/A-18 CAP on task can be extended by the provision of air-to-air refuelling. Their operations will be controlled either by air intercept controllers (AICs) working in AEW & C aircraft, when these come into service, or in frigates or destroyers. The sensors and combat data systems fitted within our frigates and destroyers mean that these ships are capable of developing and maintaining a local recognised air picture, vital for the coordination of the air battle. Many other units can contribute to this, including non-organic systems and sensors. The more units available, whether air- or seaborne, the more comprehensive will be the recognised air picture and the more capable the force of achieving battlespace dominance in the air battle. AEW & C aircraft and major surface combatants are especially effective when operating in combination. The aircraft will have a much wider radar horizon than that of the ships, while the latter can carry many more missiles than all but the largest formations of fighter aircraft. This synergy creates considerable offensive capability.

The CAP will generally function as an outer element of a layered defence. Closer in, the missile and gun systems of the frigates and destroyers will provide further layers of hard kill against an incoming raid of aircraft or missiles. An SM-1 missile equipped unit will usually have between 30 and 40 missiles onboard. Although the SM-1 system is ageing, units so fitted possess a substantial local area defence capability by which their missiles can be used to protect more than one other ship in company. This is an important capability over the point defence systems such as the Sea Sparrow missile and the Phalanx Close In Weapon System, both of which are primarily intended to protect only the ship on which they are carried. Frigates and destroyers also possess soft kill capabilities in the form of electronic decoys, such as the Australian developed Nulka hovering rocket, and other systems that aim to divert missiles from their intended targets. Helicopters and other units can contribute to these soft kill defences in a number of ways. Electronic warfare, optronics, and other systems will have an increasingly important role in sifting the air picture from an increasingly cluttered and complex electromagnetic environment.

In high threat conditions, amphibious units and support ships will also be fitted with a range of defensive systems, both hard and soft kill. These may include the employment of detachments of land forces equipped with shoulder fired missiles. In a littoral situation, every effort will be made to co-ordinate air defence with the ground based air defence provided by land forces.