ADF-SERIALS
Australian
& New Zealand Military Aircraft Serials & History
RAAF A51 Gulfstream MC-55A Peregrine
AIR 555 Phase 1 – Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, Electronic Warfare (ISREW). This proposed project will replace the Airborne ISREW capability currently provided by the Air Force’s Orion to support intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, kinetic and non-kinetic joint effects across all levels of conflict and all operating environments. Subject to Parliamentary approvals, construction is planned to commence in late 2019 and be completed by early 2023.
In June 2018, the US DoD awarded L3 Technologies (Greenville, TX) a US$83m (A$112m) contract for the upgrade of four Gulfstream G550 business jets to the MC-55A standard for the RAAF and this contract is set to run through to until August 2021. Work on the MC-55A Peregrine programme is being carried out at L3’s Greenville, Texas facility and at Gulfstream in Savannah, Georgia. The program has been managed through the USAF 645th Aeronautical Systems Group who specialise in the acquisition, modification and support of special purpose aircraft. Apart from airframe modifications to accommodate mission systems and secure communications equipment, the work also includes installation of a self-protection suite, and ground-based data processing systems.
The four aircraft are being acquired in two tranches (2+2) and will be incrementally upgraded to maintain commonality with US-developed systems. The first two ‘green’ Gulfstream G550 airframes were ordered in January 2016 and were registered in the US as N540GA and N542GD and were followed by N584GA in late 2018. The fourth airframe is yet to be identified.
Incidentally, the aircraft have inherited the name ‘Peregrine’ – a falcon bird of prey – which is a name originally used by Gulfstream in the 1980s for a single-engine business jet (and later a military training aircraft).
At this stage, it is planned that the aircraft will be based at RAAF Edinburgh.
| Aircraft Serial | Const No. | Aircraft History |
| A51-???? | 5540 | 16/03/2016 Airworthy
as Gulfstream G550, 28/03/2016 Ferried from Gulfstream (Savannah, Georgia) to L3 (Greenville, Texas), Stored L3, 09/05/2019 Registered N540GA with FAA (Expiration date 30/11/2019), Undergoing modification to MC-55A specifications. |
| A51-???? | 5542 | 20/06/2016 Registered
N542GD with FAA (Expiration date 31/03/2020), 21/04/2016 Airworthy as Gulfstream G550, 29/04/2016 Ferried from Gulfstream (Savannah, Georgia) to L3 (Greenville, Texas), Stored L3, Undergoing modification to MC-55A specifications. |
| A51-???? | 5584 | 22/10/2018 Airworthy
as Gulfstream G550, 01/11/2018 Ferried from Gulfstream (Savannah, Georgia) to L3 (Greenville, Texas), 27/12/2018 Registered N584GA with FAA (Expiration date 31/12/2021), Stored L3, Undergoing modification to MC-55A specifications. |
| A51-???? | ???? | TBA |
