Page 18 - Australian Defence Magazine March 2019

Minister for Defence Industry Steve Ciobo.
The areas set out for further investigation were a credible combat force, access and persistent presence, and joint integrator. A credible combat force generated influence, had multiple options open to it, and was an effective force multiplier in the joint force.
“There are many projects within Army that are connected and networked, indeed there are many more across the joint force. It is of the highest priority that these networks are inte- grated, resilient and agile,” LTGEN Burr noted.
“Our people on land must be connected with our air and maritime capabilities, and to our partners, for effective joint opera- tions, just as much as they need to be con- nected across the land based capabilities.”
Army vehicles would cease to be indi- vidual nodes on the battlefield and would instead become nodes in the Land Com- bat System, LTGEN Burr stated. These in- cluded the Boxer Combat Reconnaissance vehicles being acquired under Project Land 400 Phase 2, the first of which would be de- livered in April, he disclosed.
New CASG leadership
Tony Fraser, head of Defence’s Capability and Sustainment Group (CSASG) since last September, praised the significant outcomes arising from the 2015 First Principles Re- view – “I’ve seen service chiefs talk about their projects and some have even referred to tenders – that hasn’t happened previously”.
He warned that several future projects, in- cluding the Sea 1000 Future Submarine pro- gram, were complex and outside the comfort of the US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) channel.
“If one of us fails we all fail; I’ve asked CASG personnel to support each other and ensure transparency in programs, identify issues and collectively work on them.”
Vice Chief of the Defence Force VADM David Johnston
The horsepower available was limited, Fraser said. CASG was smaller than the old DMO he left seven years ago while being asked to deliver more. He’d like to discuss shared expectations with consultants, and placing profit at risk on shared outcomes.
“Our time and materiels contracts for me are real trouble... I’d like to create a cul- ture where we’re able to transition what are important early elements of high risk proj- ects from that time and materiel cost-plus organisation to a performance base with some sort of financial performance incen- tive over the top.
up “for all eternity” in naval shipbuilding. “We now seem to be getting into continu- ous armoured vehicle production as well; the Land 400 program, that adds about another 10 per cent on top. So before you start thinking about all the other desirables, remember that 40 per cent of your capital
budget is gone,” Dr Hellyer commented.
Industry perspective
Nigel Stewart, Managing Director of ASC Shipbuilding, now a subsidiary of BAE Systems Australia, reminded delegates that the contract to deliver nine Hunter class frigates to the RAN was the largest surface ship project in Australia’s defence history – and one of the largest in the world today.
Going from a down select of preferred tenderer in June 2018 to the head con- tract less than six months later, for a con- tract of this complexity set a new bench- mark in the global defence industry in terms of schedule.
Stewart said a Hunter class program of- fice had already been established in Ad- elaide with nearly 100 personnel and was growing on a daily basis with both BAE Systems staff and Saab and Lockheed Mar- tin combat system specialists.
More than 700 Australian companies
“Costs need to come down but your profit margin can grow and it’s appropri- ate to do so.”
Discussing the future of the Defence budget, ASPI Senior Analyst Dr Marcus Hellyer pointed out that cash flow was vi- tal; Defence couldn’t borrow money, and it couldn’t retain any underspend unlike its private sector partners.
Continuous naval shipbuilding would consume cash flow in the mid-20s of $3.5- 4 billion a year on submarines, frigates and patrol vessels; about 33 per cent of Defence’s capital cash flow was now tied
had been prequalified to work on the Hunt- er program, and four Australian suppliers were already delivering into the UK Type 26 frigate program.
The panels on the value proposition of industry associations (advocacy and net- working opportunities are key), collabora- tion and innovation (constant communica- tion and applaying lessons learned) and the value of indigenous diversity (difference is not bad but needs to be understood and valued accordingly as it has positive effects on the workforce and bottom line) while were also informative.
18 | March 2019 | www.australiandefence.com.au
DEFENCE BUSINESS
ADM CONGRESS
“If one of us fails, we all fail. I’ve asked CASG personnel to support each other and ensure transparency in programs, identify issues and collectively work on them.”