The Leonardo C-27J tactical transport has become a key asset for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) to provide humanitarian assistance domestically and to regional neighbours, as it also continues to perform key military roles.
The RAAF’s 10 C-27Js serve with 35 Sqn, which is more popularly known as ‘Wallaby Airlines’. The Australian marsupial features on the unit’s crest.
The squadron has a strong heritage in military logistics, tracing its origins to the Second World War, when it flew Douglas C-47 Dakotas. It was retired in 1946 but was reborn as an operator of the De Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou in 1966, when 35 Sqn saw service in the Vietnam War.
The unit was again retired in 2000 but was reactivated in 2013 to operate the C-27J, which had prevailed in a competition against the Airbus Defence & Space C295 as a Caribou replacement.
As part of its C-27J sales campaign, the then-Alenia – using an Italian air force example – demonstrated the aircraft at the 2011 Avalon air show. The aircraft showed off its ability to descend sharply and stop in a very short distance. Even more impressive were its barrel rolls and loops: manoeuvres more commonly associated with fighters.
Wing Commander Mark Seery is commanding officer of 35 Sqn. He is well aware of the C-27’s power and manoeuvrability, but stresses that the squadron does not perform aerobatics – even though the type will appear at this year’s Avalon air show, from 25-30 March.
“No loops and rolls from us,” says Seery. “We just want to get these aircraft out into the late 2030s.”
The Australian Department of Defence (DoD) originally cast the twin-engined type as a “battlefield airlifter”, but in July 2021 Canberra redefined the C-27J’s mission to focus on humanitarian and disaster relief (HADR) in Australia and the surrounding region. The battlefield airlifter label was dropped in favour of “light tactical airlift”.
In Seery’s view, the 2021 redefinition was more about changing the priorities around C-27J activities, such as how funding is used and where effort is placed.
“All capabilities, as we go through the life of them, we look at the strategic environment that we’re operating in at the time, and we pivot to where we can utilise the platform best, now that we know more about [the C-27J],” he says.
“We didn’t necessarily stop doing anything, and we didn’t necessarily remove anything, but it was more about where we needed to pivot and focus.”
Seery contends that the C-27J’s flexibility and nimbleness are key attributes both for HADR and military work. The type’s manoeuvrability is crucial when getting into and out of tight airfields.
Training for the C-27J has remained much the same, as has integrating core skills into the squadron’s aviators. Despite the ostensible HADR focus, C-27J crews can use all aircraft systems, including self-protection equipment, and they know how to operate in threat environments.
Seery, alluding to Australia’s changing geopolitical environment, adds that the twin-engined airlifter’s role has continued to evolve in the four years since the redefinition.
The C-27J’s credentials as a military aircraft are not in dispute. Mission sets include air dropping cargo and paratroopers, cargo carriage, as well as medical evacuation. The aircraft has made appearances at defence exercises in Southeast Asia and in the US territory of Guam.
According to the RAAF’s website, the C-27J has capacity for 34 passengers, 21 stretcher patients, or 5t of cargo. Seery says that the number of passengers could be stretched in an emergency.
He notes that a key benefit of the C-27J is its cargo handling system, which allows it to carry pallets that are compatible with other aircraft types. The type can also carry vehicles, which can be loaded and unloaded via the aircraft’s ramp.
The C-27J has significant commonality with the four-engined Lockheed Martin C-130J tactical transport, the workhorse of the RAAF. The two types share a high degree of cockpit and avionics commonality, as the C-27J was developed under the Lockheed Martin Alenia Tactical Transport Systems partnership.
Seery notes that the cockpit commonality between the two fleets has started to diverge, especially following a hardware and software upgrade of the RAAF’s C-130Js.
“Their cockpit systems are slightly starting to diverge a little bit from what we have,” says Seery. “Later in life, we’ll probably do something similar when we’ll do a mid-life upgrade as well.”
Still, things such as head-up display symbology, flight procedures, and general cockpit philosophies remain broadly the same.
“If I have a pilot who comes across from 37 Sqn, which operates the C-130J, it’s a really quick conversion for them onto our aircraft type. Equally, if we send some of our pilots across to them, it’s also a relatively quick, easy conversion onto their type.”
The two types are also powered by the same turboprop engine, the Rolls-Royce AE2100.
This sort of commonality is especially helpful for a small air force such as the RAAF, says Seery.
From their base at RAAF Amberley, located south of Brisbane, Queensland, the aircraft are regularly deployed inside Australia. The type has become a stalwart for humanitarian missions.
When announcing its redefinition of the C-27J’s mission in 2021, the DoD made much of the type’s utility during Australia’s 2019/2020 bushfire crisis. During Operation Bushfire Assist, the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF’s) response to the disaster, C-27Js evacuated 2,400 people from fire-affected communities and moved 300,000kg (661,000lb) of cargo.
Critically, the C-27J was able to reach locations that were inaccessible for other Australian operated types, such as the C-130J and Boeing CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter.
Seery says that three C-27Js were deployed for the effort. For a while bushfires cut off the small coastal town of Mallacoota. In addition to being challenging to get into and out of, the town’s runway was too short and “soft” to handle larger aircraft, but the light footprint of the C-27J allowed it to form an air bridge.
Over a one-week period, 35 Sqn’s C-27Js evacuated about 1,000 people from Mallacoota. Animals were also evacuated. It also delivered essential supplies such as food, water, medicine, and other necessities.
“Of all the strengths the C-27J brings, it’s got a light footprint, and you can land and take off on relatively soft runways where heavier aircraft, such as the C-130 and Chinook at times, will have a challenge. They might damage those strips as they come in and out.”
In addition to the type’s usefulness as a domestic HADR asset, a C-27J is regularly deployed overseas in Haiti or Papua New Guinea (PNG) under the Defence Pacific Air Programme. The programme has been running since 2023 and sees the RAAF integrate the C-27J capability with the New Guinea Defence Force’s three PAC P-750 aircraft, of which Canberra furnished two examples to Port Moresby in 2023.
The C-27J was a key part of Australia’s response to a devastating landslide that occurred in the PNG’s highland province of Enga in May 2024. Casualties were likely in excess of 1,000 people and 7,850 were affected by the disaster. The landslide also cut power lines and made clean water inaccessible.
Among other efforts, Canberra dispatched two Boeing C-17 supply flights from Brisbane to Port Moresby. RAAF C-27Js and C-130Js then ferried supplies and personnel to Wapenamanda airport, which sits at an elevation of 5,889ft and has a single 1,540m (5,050ft)-long runway.
“It’s a relatively short airfield that sits at high density altitude,” says Seery. “It is quite high up in the mountain ranges and has lots of challenging approaches to get in and out of there.”
Visual flight rules are the only way in and out. Pilots on approach often needed to fly underneath clouds and manoeuvre up a valley before landing.
“This showed the diversity and utility of the aircraft in that the airfield itself was quite a challenging strip to get in and out of. Mountain operations is something we qualify our crews in as well.”
Thanks to its relatively small size, the aircraft can manoeuvre around small airfields. Critically, it has the capability to reverse. Seery says that in a narrow space, the aircraft can perform the equivalent of a three- or six -point turn to reverse its direction.
One challenge facing the global C-27J fleet is its relatively small size. According to Cirium, an aviation analytics company, just 87 examples are in service globally, divided among 16 operators. With its 10 examples, the RAAF is the third largest operator, after the US Coast Guard (14) and the Italian air force (12).
Asked about aircraft availability, Seery says that this is “quite good”, noting that Northrop Grumman Australia provides base maintenance for the fleet.
He adds that the RAAF learned a considerable amount about the C-27J during its original certification effort and that this offers a strong understanding of how to manage the fleet.
While the small size of the fleet can be a challenge, the Australian C-27J team works closely with US and Italian counterparts.
“We communicate regularly, stay across each other’s problems, so that when we do need support from the OEM, whether it’s spares difficulties, whether it’s engineering solutions or problems, we work those problems collaboratively and ensure that we’re all trying to prioritise them together.”
Logically, the C-27J should have a place in the Agile Combat Employment (ACE) strategy that has been adopted by the US Air Force and the RAAF. Under ACE, USAF, RAAF and allied combat aircraft complicate the targeting dilemma for adversaries by operating unpredictably from diverse airfields.
The ACE concept of operations places great emphasis on the timely transport of fuel, munitions, and personnel to sometimes austere locations.
Seery does not touch on the C-27J’s specific role in ACE scenarios, but observes that both the ADF and RAAF are very focused on ACE. He feels that the pilot skills and aircraft attributes that allow the C-27J to operate into difficult airfields during peacetime would be highly relevant during a conflict.
“Broadly speaking, [the C-27J] is a military aircraft, and it can and will be utilised in military circumstances, including in times of conflict.”
