Air operations depend on sound technical support. Aerospace Engineers and technical tradespeople provide that support by ensuring the airworthiness, operational readiness, availability, maintainability, reliability and integrity of RAAF technical equipment. There are three Aerospace Engineer specialisations:

Aeronautical - responsible for aircraft structures, propulsion and associated mechanical systems and ground support equipment;

Armament - responsible for weapons, weapons systems associated test equipment and bomb disposal; and

Electronic/Electrical - responsible for airborne power generation and distribution, electronic/electrical control systems, instrument and navigation systems, automatic test equipment, communications, and radar and sonar equipment, heavy ground radar, ground telecommunication equipment and computer networks.

Aerospace Engineer Officers in the Air Force perform a wide range of engineering, maintenance, project and quality assurance tasks, in association with resource management. These tasks are essential to provide the Air Force with airworthy, mission capable aircraft and ground support equipment, and are particularly challenging because of the rapid technological changes inthe aerospace field.

Your initial employment in the Air Force would usually be as the officer in charge of a group of technical personnel and facilities associated with day to day maintenance and equipment overhaul at either a maintenance unit, or flying squadron. Similar employment at increasing levels of responsibility will figure throughout your career but will be interspersed with engineering staff jobs or project management duties.

During the service life of an aircraft or item of technical equipment, Air Force Aerospace Engineers monitor failure, evaluate proposed modifications and repair schemes and supervise and evaluate equipment trials. To assist in those tasks you will have access to external organisations where you will liaise closely with your civilian counterparts.

Project management is another responsibility of Air Force Aerospace Engineers and you could find yourself involved in the engineering and maintenance aspects of large projects such as the purchase of new aircraft and associated weapon systems, or as the manager of a specific engineering or maintenance project (e.g. the F/A 18 Hornet Upgrade Project).

Resource management covers personnel, material and money. Air Force Aerospace Engineers are responsible for specifying training requirements and advising on employment policies for all technical personnel in the Air Force. On material and money aspects you could be responsible for the provision of financial estimates or the progression of technical works requirements or maintenance programs.

With the constant introduction to the Air Force of new aircraft and equipment, life as an Aerospace Engineering Officer is constantly challenging and changing. The Air Force provides many internal courses as well as offering the chance of post-graduate training at external institutions to help you meet these new challenges throughout your employment.