In a potentially grave blow to Pacific security, the Royal Australian Air Force has joined the U.S. Coast Guard in grounding an undisclosed number of Australia’s Alenia C-27J Spartan mid-range transports. While at least one Australian C-27J was busy practicing approaches on a remote Australian airstrip earlier today, sources suggest cracks were found in over half of Australia’s intensively-used 10-aircraft C-27J fleet.
On Wednesday, after Forbes reported the U.S. Coast Guard had grounded their fleet of 14 Spartan aircraft, a spokesperson from the Australian Department of Defense confirmed cracks had been discovered in Australia’s C-27J fleet as well.
According to the spokesperson, “Aircraft found to have cracking will not be flown until an engineering assessment has been completed.”
Australia neither related the number of aircraft impacted nor detailed just what might be involved in an “engineering assessment”. But, at best, an engineering assessment is no fix. It is more of a means to quickly balance crew and passenger safety against a busy schedule of high-priority missions.
Australia is a rigorous and exacting operator. Their Air Force pushes hard to maintain a high level of readiness. As an example, in late 2021, Australia launched seven Spartans at one time—all while an eighth was on “on task” elsewhere. Any available aircraft don’t sit on the tarmac for long, either. The Spartans are in high demand for exercises, patrols and disaster response work.
As Australia pushes their fleet of flying diplomats very hard, traveling to remote Pacific sites and handling an array of engagement, disaster response and military missions, a lot will ride on any engineering assessments completed before a fix is implemented.
Given the demand for the aircraft, if more than half of Australia’s C-27Js are experiencing significant cracking issues and those cracking issues prove hard to fix, Australia will be staring down a serious capability challenge. But given how hard Australia is using the C-27J, the operators simply cannot dismiss any extra risk—the small airlifters fly too far, participating in too many high-profile missions to risk a major incident.
Of course, Spartan groundings were not universal, and a fix may already be in sight.
In Europe, C-27Js from Italy, Romania, and other countries have been flying. Italy has inspected their aircraft and found no cracks, while the Hellenic Air Force reported that their aircraft, while affected, were, according to the indefatigable David Cenciotti, reporting from Aviationist.com, getting fixed and back into the field in a matter of hours.
While the U.S. Coast Guard is undoubtably irked that their fleet of C-27Js has been grounded three times this year due to mechanical issues, some U.S. Spartans are flying. On Wednesday, at least one C-27J from the U.S. Army Special Operations Command enjoyed a relatively low pass over a former LORAN radio navigational system site that now houses a U.S. Coast Guard Electronic Support Detachment.
Australia Does Not Baby Their Spartans
Australia’s contingent of mid-sized C-27J Spartan airlifters, operated by the No. 35 Squadron—a heroic outfit known as the Wallaby Airlines—are based at the Royal Australian Air Force Base Amerley. Since the aircraft began arriving in 2015, the No. 35 Squadron has been busy building the C-27J’s use case, operating across Australia and throughout the Pacific.
Even a cursory summary of some of Australia’s work with their C-27J aircraft this year show the small fleet has an impressive reach across Australia and throughout the Pacific.
In January, two C-27J Spartans began a seven week stint in Western Australia, helping flood recovery efforts there. Then, in February, two C-27J Spartans, along with support staff, arrived in New Zealand to support post-cyclone recovery efforts. In the same month, a representative of the Spartan fleet participated in Exercise Cope North in Guam, while another participated in Exercise Croix Du Sud 23, a complex humanitarian assistance/disaster response exercise in New Caledonia.
In May, Australia’s Spartans were dispatched on a quick response drill, deploying to Cormorant airfield, a grass runway, west of Townsville.
By July, Australian C-27s were flying 1,200 nm trips from Amberley to Horn Island and back, part of a wider push to gain operating familiarization in the islands of the Torres Strait. One aircraft landed Badu Island, evaluating the airstrip and area. A C-27J also visited Papua New Guinea, transporting some 1000 passengers and 38,000kg of cargo, moving some 400 PNGDF members across the country in the space of two weeks. Then Australia’s flying diplomat became the first aircraft to respond after a volcano eruption on the island of Bougainville.
In August, Spartans were busy supporting parachute jumps and logistics support drills in the Northern Territories of Australia, assembling and dropping non-familiar loadouts.
In October, a second detachment arrived in Papua New Guinea, aiming at expanding the number of airfields the C-27J fleet might employ. Others were operating in Malaysia, supporting Exercise Bersama Lima.
In November, Spartans were working out of the Solomons, supporting Operation Solania—one of about four sets of extended fisheries patrols that Australia’s C-27Js have supported this year. This particular detachment detoured from their fishery patrol work to conduct assessment flights for Vanuatu after Tropical Cyclone Lola.
Australia’s ability to get the aircraft out and into the Pacific—operating on extended deployments almost like a Coast Guard cutter—is an impressive endorsement of the C-27J’s operational niche, as well as the high level of trust the Australian Air Force puts in the platform.
Australia’s effort to really extract the maximum value from their small airlifter is commendable, and Leonardo should be falling all over themselves to help keep the Australian operators happy and in the air—it’s the best advertisement for the C-27J Spartan out there. And, if the U.S. Coast Guard can, at some point, conduct similar operations, matching the robust availability of Australia’s Spartan fleet, it will be a great thing. As versatile as it is, the C-130 Hercules can’t do it all, and the lower-operating cost inherent in a smaller aircraft is certainly appealing. But, with the budget short and frustration high, the small airlifter’s constant stream of hiccups and bureaucratic hang-ups are wearing thin.
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