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Chief of Air Force Air Show Conference
'Smaller Air Forces and the Future of Air Power'
 Monday 19 March 2007
Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre
The enduring RAAF vision is ‘To be a balanced expeditionary Air Force capable of achieving the government’s objectives through the swift and decisive application of air and space power in joint operations or as part of a larger coalition force’. This accurately reflects the ethos of the Air Force and the purpose of our mission. It envisages that the RAAF will be able to bring to bear air and space power, jointly with the other Services or as part of a larger coalition, at the time and place of our government’s choice.
Currently we are in the process of re-shaping the RAAF. This will ensure that our structure will be able to smoothly integrate the new acquisitions that bring with them enhanced capabilities. Every successful organisation is adaptive and dynamic in nature and the RAAF is no exception. We pride ourselves on our inherent flexibility and we have successfully managed to bring our workforce structure, our people and the tasking placed on the Air Force into balance. This has been a short-term activity aimed at preparing for a reshaping project that will look at longer term issues. The end-state that we seek is to have an organisational structure that will effectively and efficiently meet the ongoing raise, train and sustain needs of a versatile Air Force.
For the RAAF, this conference will discuss the evolution of the organisation that we have been instituting over the past twelve months as well as our plans for the future. It will focus on the likely changes in air combat forces and potential solutions to the challenges that are presented by coalition and regional operations. To obtain a wider perspective of shared challenges a number of international Chiefs of Air Force will provide their views on the future of air power.
Inviations, brochures and application forms are available from our Events page. You can learn more about the Air Force's contribution to the Australian International Air Show on the Air Force air show page. For further information,
please contact:
Air Power Development Centre
Tel: 626 61084
Fax: 626 61041
E-mail: airpower@defence.gov.au
Associated events
2007 marks the 60th anniversary of the breaking of the sound barrier. The Australian International Air Show will salute those with the right stuff in a very special way.
This is the pre-eminent aerospace forum in the region held at major Australian aerospace centres every two years since 1985. It is being held during the week of the Australian International Air Show. The AIAC-12 and its incorporated conferences and associated events has been organised to provide significant technical and business opportunities for aerospace professionals in the Australasian region.
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PLAAF Command
College visits APDC
 On
25 July 2006, the Air Power Development Centre hosted a visit by a delegation
from the People's Liberation Army Air Force Command College. The delegation
was led by Major General Xu Gunang, the Director of Training and five
other senior staff members from the College. During their time at the
Air Power Development Centre the delegation was briefed on the roles and
responsibilities of the newly revamped APDC and the education and Fellowship
programs offered through the Centre. With the release of 5th edition of
the Air Power Manual due in early 2007, the delegation was particularly
interested in the processes involved in the review and development of
RAAF strategic doctrine and future operating concepts. The APDC will look
to strengthen its ties with China through the hosting of a Chinese Fellow
on the Chief of Air Force Fellowship program in the near future.
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CAF
visits APDC
 Chief
of Air Force, Air Marshal Geoff Shepherd, recently visited the Air Power
Development Centre at Tuggeranong to present WOFF Howden Farrer with the
Afghanistan Medal recognising his service in support of Operation Enduring
Freedom in 2001-02. During American-led operations to eradicate terrorist
bases hosted by the Taliban government of Afghanistan, the RAAF provided
a detachment of two B707 aircraft from 84 Wing which carried out air-to-air
refuelling operations from Manas airbase near Bishkek, in neighbouring
Kyrgyzstan.
 CAF
also took the opportunity to obtain a briefing from the Director of the
APDC, Group Captain Tony Forestier, about the changes being made at the
Centre. The APDC is reorganising to strengthen its capacity to deliver
guidance on air power development to Air Force's decision-makers. Major
products over the next 12 months will be the Future Air and Space Operating
Concept (FASOC) and the 5th edition of the AAP1000 publication on RAAF
strategic doctrine. "I am confident that the Centre will become an
even more effective partner in guiding the Air Force into the future",
CAF said after his visit.
During his time at Tuggeranong the Chief also heard from the RAAF Historian
about plans to bolster the APDC's capacity for historical analysis. The
Office of Air Force History is the repository for the unit history records
collected on a monthly basis from across the Air Force. CAF was briefed
on steps that are envisaged to help busy units meet their reporting obligations,
to avoid gaps appearing which will eventually inhibit OAFH's ability to
answer ministerial, official and private enquiries about past events,
including issues regarding members' entitlements, and detailed historical
study of the RAAF's activities on operations.
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 The
RAAF Museum at Point Cook, Victoria, was the venue for the launch of the
latest book in the RAAF Heritage Series on 24 April. Immediately following
last year's History Conference, the Chief of Air Force announced that
Katakana Man by Jack Brown was the winner of the 2005 RAAF Heritage
Award for Literature. The manuscript has now been published by the Air
Power Development Centre and was launched by Commander Training Command,
Air Commodore Kevin Paule.
Katakana Man recounts Jack Brown's experiences
during World War II as a radio operator monitoring encrypted Japanese
radio transmissions in katakana - the Japanese equivalent of Morse Code.
After serving initially with 1 Wireless Unit at Townsville, he was sent
with detachments to various locations in New Guinea. In 1944 he joined
a small party of Australians who took part in the Leyte landings which
heralded the start of the American invasion of the Philippines.
 In
his introductory remarks AIRCDRE Paule paid tribute to the then highly
secret work that signals intelligence played in providing intelligence
 of
vital strategic value to General MacArthur's headquarters in the South-West
Pacific Area. Six RAAF wireless units, with Australian, American and Canadian
army signals units, intercepted the messages that were decoded and analysed
by MacArthur's Central Bureau organisation at Brisbane.
Jack Brown, who travelled from Adelaide with his wife Anne
to attend the launch, recalled that he had not been back to Point Cook
since late 1942. "I was told that I was there for telegraphist training,
but that only lasted until it was realised that I could take down messages
faster than the instructors. I stayed there only a couple of weeks and
then went to 1WU. My book is now in its rightful home with the RAAF."
Further details are available here.
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