History of the C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft used by Australia
The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) operates eight Boeing C-17 Globemaster III large transport aircraft. Four C-17s were ordered in mid-2006 to improve the ability of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to operate outside Australia and its region. The aircraft entered service between November 2006 and January 2008, the second pair being delivered ahead of schedule. Two more Globemasters were ordered in 2011, the sixth being delivered to the RAAF in November 2012. Another two C-17s were ordered in October 2014, with the final aircraft being delivered in November 2015. The Globemasters are built to the same specifications as those operated by the United States Air Force (USAF), and the Australian aircraft are maintained through an international contract with Boeing.
All of the RAAF's Globemasters are assigned to No. 36 Squadron and are based at RAAF Base Amberley in Queensland. The aircraft have supported ADF operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and other locations in the Middle East, as well as training exercises in Australia and the United States. They have also transported supplies and personnel as part of relief efforts following natural disasters in Australia, Japan, New Zealand and several other countries. The C-17s are highly regarded throughout the Australian military for their ability to carry large amounts of cargo across long distances, and the process through which they were acquired has been identified as an example of good practice in defence procurement.
Acquisition.
Selection.
The RAAF began considering options for heavy transport aircraft to provide a strategic airlift capability during the early 2000s. This investigation was initiated after the ADF deployment to East Timor in 1999 and operations in the Middle East from 2001 revealed shortcomings in the RAAF's ability to transport the increasingly large and heavy vehicles and other items of equipment used by the Australian Army. To support these operations, the ADF found that it needed long-range aircraft capable of carrying larger loads than could be accommodated in the RAAF's force of Lockheed C-130 Hercules transports. As a result of this capability gap, the ADF needed to use USAF transports and chartered Russian-built commercial heavy lift aircraft to move supplies and equipment from Australia to its forces in Afghanistan and the Middle East. This experience proved frustrating, as both categories of aircraft were often not available and the commercial transports were expensive to lease. The crash of a civil-chartered Ilyushin Il-76 in East Timor in 2003 also raised concerns within the ADF about the safety of the Russian transport aircraft. Following advocacy from the military, the Australian Government announced as part of an update to its national security strategy in December 2005 that it would consider acquiring heavy lift aircraft to supplement the RAAF's Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules transports. This initiative was one of several measures announced in the government's "Defence Update 2005" paper, which sought to better prepare the ADF to operate in locations distant from Australia.
In early 2006 a project office was established within the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) to evaluate the options for acquiring heavy lift aircraft. The office considered the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, which was in service with the USAF at the time, as well as the Airbus A400M Atlas, which was yet to make its first flight. Boeing aggressively marketed the C-17 to the Australian Government during this period. Though unstated, commonality with the USAF and the United Kingdom's RAF was also considered advantageous. In March 2006, Minister for Defence Brendan Nelson announced that the government had decided to purchase three C-17s and take out an option for a fourth. Nelson also announced that the C-17s would be operated by No. 36 Squadron RAAF, which was to transfer its C-130H Hercules to No. 37 Squadron and relocate from RAAF Base Richmond in New South Wales to RAAF Base Amberley in Queensland. Amberley was selected over Richmond as the base for the Globemasters as its runways and engineering facilities were better able to support large aircraft.
The government exercised the option to purchase a fourth C-17 between the time this announcement was made and the signing of the final contract on 31 July 2006. The total cost of the four aircraft was $A821 million, and Boeing also received an A$85 million contract to allow Australia to join the "virtual fleet" global C-17 sustainment program. Additional funding was allocated to build headquarters and maintenance facilities at Amberley as well as to upgrade the air movements facilities at RAAF Bases Darwin, Edinburgh, Townsville, and Pearce. The package of funding needed to purchase and introduce the Globemasters into service was provided as a supplement to the government's long-term defence funding program, so the ADF did not have to forgo any other planned capabilities. The C-17s were acquired through the United States Government's Foreign Military Sales program, meaning that they were first delivered to the USAF and then transferred to the RAAF. The USAF provided some of the C-17 delivery "slots" it had purchased to the RAAF to enable the type to rapidly enter Australian service, making them identical to American C-17 even in paint scheme, the only difference being the national markings. This allowed delivery to commence within nine months of commitment to the program.
Delivery and sustainment.
The RAAF received its first four C-17s between late 2006 and early 2008. The initial aircraft, which was allocated the serial number A41-206, was completed in October 2006 and arrived in Australia on 4 December that year. A welcome ceremony attended by Prime Minister John Howard, Nelson and other dignitaries was held at Defence Establishment Fairbairn in Canberra. The second aircraft, A41-207, was delivered on 11 May 2007. A41-208 was handed over to the RAAF on 18 December 2007, and A41-209 was accepted on 18 January 2008. The first two aircraft were delivered in accordance with the expected schedule, and the third and fourth were each delivered two months early. The RAAF also acquired a C-17 flight simulator, which entered service in January 2010. In the 2012–2013 edition of its annual "Major Projects Report", the Australian National Audit Office judged that a lesson for the Australian Government from the successful procurement of the first four Globemasters was that purchasing major equipment on an "off-the-shelf" basis allows "considerable acceleration of the standard acquisition cycle". Similarly, Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst Mark Thomson wrote in 2008 that "the breakneck speed with which the C-17 acquisition was executed (and the good outcomes of the acquisition) provides an example of what can be achieved" through off-the-shelf purchasing, and that such projects generally deliver better outcomes for the ADF than attempts to develop equipment tailored to Australia's needs.
The Australian Government ordered a further two C-17s during 2011 and 2012. In February 2011 Minister for Defence Stephen Smith announced that another C-17 would be purchased for a cost of $A130 million. This aircraft was ordered to prevent a shortfall of airlift capacity while the original four C-17s underwent scheduled heavy maintenance. The decision to purchase this aircraft also supplanted an earlier plan to acquire two more C-130Js. As the deadline for A41-206 to be temporarily taken out of service for maintenance was rapidly approaching, the USAF agreed to transfer a C-17 airframe that was nearing completion to the RAAF. This aircraft was delivered on 14 September 2011 and arrived in Australia nine days later. At the ceremony held to welcome A41-210, Smith announced that the government intended to order another C-17. The $A160 million contract for this aircraft was signed in March 2012, and it was delivered to the RAAF on 1 November that year. Funding for these two aircraft was obtained through a combination of supplements to the Defence budget and reallocating unspent funds from ADF projects running behind schedule.
Owing to budget constraints and the scheduled closure of Boeing's Globemaster production line in 2015, it was considered unlikely in 2012 that the RAAF would acquire more Globemasters. However, in August 2014 Minister for Defence David Johnston stated that the Government was likely to purchase a further one or two C-17s. The Government announced that it would purchase two Globemasters in October 2014, and requested information on the pricing and availability for a further pair of aircraft. In November 2014 Australia lodged a formal request with the United States Defense Security Cooperation Agency for four C-17s and associated equipment, for a total cost of $A1.85 billion. An order for the RAAF's seventh and eighth Globemasters was formally announced by Prime Minister Tony Abbott on 10 April 2015. The first of the new C-17s arrived in Australia on 29 July 2015, and the second on 4 November that year. These two aircraft were among the last C-17s to have been built before the production line was closed, and it is not expected that the RAAF will acquire more Globemasters. It was reported in December 2014 that the New Zealand Government was considering purchasing between two and four Globemasters, and "Australian Aviation" journalist Andrew McLaughlin suggested that any such acquisition would build on Australia's C-17 support infrastructure. The New Zealand Government ultimately decided to not purchase any Globemasters.
Maintenance of the Australian Globemasters is undertaken by both the RAAF and Boeing. As part of Australia's membership of the Globemaster III Sustainment Partnership, Air Force technicians are responsible for routine servicing, and Boeing handles major maintenance tasks. Boeing also provides technical support for RAAF Globemasters during deployments outside of Australia, and the company is paid in return for achieving contractually mandated aircraft availability targets. Due to the economies of scale arising from a large international maintenance program, the contract with Boeing is considered to be cheaper than attempting to support the aircraft through unique Australian contracts. It is expected that the RAAF's Globemasters will remain in service for 30 years.
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Because you can put the engines into reverse thrust while airborne [a definite no-no in most large jets] you know you can just drop out of the sky. The rates of descent and the rates of climb it has are just great.
—Flight Lieutenant Samantha Fairbairn, No. 36 Squadron, on the C-17
The ADF and defence commentators have judged that the Globemaster acquisition has significantly increased the RAAF's airlift capabilities. The aircraft have a maximum range of and are capable of operating from short and unsealed airstrips. Each Globemaster can carry up to of cargo, and the large size of the aircraft means that it can accommodate outsize items. Maximum loads include 102 passengers, 36 personnel on stretchers, an M1 Abrams tank, three Eurocopter Tiger helicopters or five Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicles. These are much larger loads than can be transported by the Air Force's C-130 Hercules transports, and the RAAF website states that each C-17 can carry three times as much cargo as a C-130. Flown with a joystick and fly-by-wire controls, the C-17 is also highly manoeuvrable and responsive considering its size. Ian McPhedran, the defence correspondent for News Corp Australia, judged that the C-17s have "changed the game" for the RAAF by allowing the force to rapidly transport large amounts of cargo into combat zones. According to aviation journalist Nigel Pittaway, the Globemaster's capabilities have made it a highly regarded asset throughout the Australian Defence Organisation.
Operational service.
Training and combat operations.
Ahead of the delivery of Australia's first C-17s, RAAF personnel received training on the aircraft in the United States. From May 2006 a group of pilots and loadmasters led by Wing Commander Linda Corbould, the commanding officer designate of No. 36 Squadron, undertook conversion training with the USAF's C-17 units at Altus Air Force Base and Charleston Air Force Base. A group of 48 technical personnel also received training at Charleston and McChord Air Force Base from September that year. No. 36 Squadron began a period of intensive training once Corbould delivered A41-206 to Amberley on 7 December 2006, and the unit achieved initial operating capability status in September 2007. Also in 2007, the RAAF's No. 1 Air Operations Support Squadron was expanded by 80 personnel to provide air load teams to support the Globemasters. A project to acquire the equipment needed to allow the RAAF's C-17s to be used in the aeromedical evacuation role and develop associated crew procedures began in late 2007. The first Globemaster aeromedical evacuation sortie was flown on 5 September 2008, the day after the type was certified to operate in this role. On 8 December