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| Closer ties for
lift specialists Volume 49, No. 02, February 22, 2007 |
| Coalition air
operations moved towards closer interoperability as a result of the recent
inaugural air mobility working group meeting of airlift specialists. The specialists, from the air forces of Australia, Canada, the US, UK and New Zealand, met under the auspices of the Air and Space Interoperability Council (ASIC). ASIC was formed after a review initiated by CAF in 2004 and aims to ensure that program tasks and outputs reflect the priorities of its members’ air forces, and contribute directly to Coalition expeditionary air operations. Air Force Program Manager, Director General Aerospace Development, AIRCDRE John Oddie, said that the challenge for ASIC was to ensure that its work reflected current Coalition priorities and that an appropriate level of interoperability was built into emerging systems. “Close collaboration between Air Force and Capability Development Executive is critical to Australia gaining the maximum benefit from the ASIC program,” AIRCDRE Oddie said. ASIC’s work is organised into five functionally-based working groups covering air and space capability areas, including air mobility, agile combat support, command and control and intelligence, target acquisition and reconnaissance (C2ISTAR), force application and force protection. An important element of ASIC activity is the Test Project Arrangement (TPA) program, which allows for the free exchange of equipment between the ASIC participants, allowing equipment used by one nation to be tested and evaluated by the other members to enhance standardisation. |