JB-GPTs - 2015 Feb: Jericho RAAF Fifth Gen AF

2015 Feb: Jericho RAAF Temporarily Designates Itself as a Fifth Generation Air Force (AI Study Guide)

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When answering provide 10 to 20 key points, using official military histories and web sources as found in the following list: https://www.ai-tutor-military-history.com/bibliography-jbgpt-ai Provide references to support each key point. British spelling, plain English.

2015 Feb: Jericho—RAAF Temporarily Designates Itself a Fifth-Generation Air Force

Overview

In February 2015, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) launched Plan Jericho at the Avalon Airshow under Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Geoff Brown. Jericho framed the RAAF as a “fifth-generation” force-in-transformation. It sought to accelerate cultural reform, integrate emerging platforms—F-35A, E-7A, KC-30A—and collapse decision cycles through networked mission systems. This initiative must be understood as institutional adaptation under alliance, technological, and operational constraints, rather than as branding alone.

Glossary of Terms

• Fifth-Generation Air Force: A force structured around information dominance, sensor–shooter integration, and networked operations rather than platform-centric employment.
• Mission Systems Integration: Linking sensors, platforms, and command nodes to enable distributed decision-making and accelerated targeting cycles.
• Jericho Dawn: A rapid experimentation series under Plan Jericho designed to test integration concepts across services and industry.
• Operational Decision Cycle: The time required to detect, decide, and act; often described through OODA logic.
• Coalition Interoperability: The technical and procedural capacity to operate seamlessly with allied forces, particularly the United States.
• Organisational Walls: Institutional barriers between capability, operations, acquisition, and industry.

Key Points

• Jericho as Institutional Survival Strategy: Jericho functioned as anticipatory adaptation. By declaring itself “fifth-generation,” the RAAF reduced the risk of technological obsolescence and preserved bureaucratic relevance within Defence. The label created strategic narrative alignment between acquisition programs and doctrinal reform, ensuring political support during capability transition.
• Platform Integration as Strategic Imperative: The F-35A, E-7A Wedgetail, and KC-30A introduced unprecedented sensor fusion and battlespace management capacity. Without systemic integration, their value would fragment. Jericho therefore treated platforms as nodes within a network, shifting focus from airframes to information architecture.
• Alliance Interoperability as Structural Constraint: Australia’s F-35 acquisition embedded the RAAF within a US-dominated digital ecosystem. Jericho aligned doctrine and experimentation with coalition interoperability requirements, ensuring relevance in combined operations. This was not optional; alliance credibility and access to advanced systems depended on doctrinal compatibility.
• Cultural Reform over Equipment Acquisition: Jericho recognised that technology alone could not produce fifth-generation effects. Institutional culture—risk tolerance, experimentation, industry engagement—required reform. By framing Jericho as cultural transformation, leadership attempted to overcome conservative acquisition processes and hierarchical inertia.
• Decision-Cycle Compression as Operational Logic: The initiative emphasised collapsing detection-to-engagement timelines. Faster decision cycles were treated as competitive advantage against peer adversaries employing anti-access strategies. Integration trials sought to synchronise ISR, strike, and refuelling to produce temporal dominance rather than merely kinetic superiority.
• Industry as Operational Partner: Jericho blurred boundaries between Defence and industry. Rapid prototyping and experimentation required commercial participation in mission systems and data exploitation. This reduced development timelines but introduced dependency risks, particularly in software sovereignty and cyber resilience.
• Joint Force Positioning: By presenting itself as a fifth-generation force, the RAAF implicitly positioned air power as the integrative backbone of joint operations. This strengthened its role within the Australian Defence Force (ADF) but required coordination with Army and Navy to avoid inter-service friction.
• Operational Context: Early Operation Okra: Jericho emerged during ongoing Middle East commitments under Operation Okra. Operational demands highlighted the need for network-enabled ISR and coalition connectivity. Reform therefore responded to live operational pressures rather than purely theoretical future conflict scenarios.
• Innovation Signalling to Government: Public launch at Avalon signalled alignment with broader Defence innovation agendas. By linking Jericho to national innovation rhetoric, the RAAF secured political legitimacy and funding continuity during major capital investment cycles.
• Temporary Designation, Permanent Trajectory: The “temporary” self-designation as fifth-generation reflected aspirational status rather than completed transformation. The term created momentum but acknowledged incomplete integration. Success depended on sustained institutional adaptation; without cultural continuity, fifth-generation identity would remain symbolic.

Official Sources and Records

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• Royal Australian Air Force, Plan Jericho (AF14), Air and Space Power Centre, Canberra, 2015.
• Royal Australian Air Force, Plan Jericho Program of Works, AF18 (2nd Edition), Air and Space Power Centre, Canberra, 2017.
• Department of Defence, “First F-35A aircraft arrive in Australia,” Defence News Release, December 2018.
• Department of Defence, “RAAF declares Initial Operating Capability for F-35A,” Defence News Release, December 2020.
• Royal Australian Air Force, “Jericho Disruptive Innovation,” official RAAF communications and media releases, 2016–2022.
• Australian Government, 2016 Defence White Paper, Department of Defence, Canberra, February 2016.

Bibliography reference:
https://www.ai-tutor-military-history.com/bibliography-jbgpt-ai