Page 40 - Australian Defence Magazine March 2019

LAND WARFARE
LETHALITY
Defence’s Lethality program takes aim
Combining a number of arms programs under
a single umbrella, the wider lethality program will see a step change in capability.
NIGEL PITTAWAY | MELBOURNE
Defence conducted
the latest in a series of industry briefs for its combined Lethality (Land 159 and 4108) program in Melbourne on January 31.
THE briefing was delivered by CASG’s Land Systems Division shortly after the release of a Request for Proposals (RFP) on January 15 and provided industry representatives with a broad-brush overview of the Common- wealth’s requirements and the opportunity to ask questions of subject matter experts.
The program is seeking to acquire a range of lethal and non-lethal small arms and direct fire support weapons systems under a Supplier Engagement Model (SEM) so- lution, but Defence has no preference on which particular model to adopt at this time and is looking for feedback from in- dustry on the best way forward.
The RFP closes on March 13 and is seeking to elicit proposals from companies looking to either fulfil the role of prime contractor and/ or systems integrator for some or all of the ca- pabilities being sought, under one of the SEM models, or to act as a supplier-only within one or more of the eight individual capability streams within the Lethality program.
Program overview
Formerly known by their individual pro- gram names, Land 159 (Small Arms Re- placement) and Land 4108 (Direct Fire Support Weapons Replacement), the two have now been combined under the ‘Lethal- ity’ program umbrella.
The Commonwealth is looking to in- dustry to deliver enhanced lethality and a capability overmatch to the ADF and will acquire a range of weapons systems – com- prising platforms, surveillance and target acquisition ancillaries, ammunition, facili- ties and target and simulation systems.
The four key tenets of the program are weight reduction and the maximisation of rail space on small arms weapons, enhanced weapon modularity, improved terminal ballistics and enhanced fire control systems.
Taken as a whole, the lethality program is intended to provide a capability advan- tage for Defence’s Soldier Combat System (SCS) capability.
“The Lethality program will ensure ADF combatants operating as part of a combined arms team, will have a range of state of the art lethal and non-lethal systems that will decisively provide a capability advantage against emerging adversaries, by being capa- ble of detecting, identifying and engaging threats by day of night, in all weather and environmental conditions,” Defence says.
Supplier Engagement Model
For the delivery of the Lethality program, the Commonwealth intends to establish a long-term contract, or number of contracts, for the provision of weapons systems and services via one or more Supplier Engage- ment Models (SEMs).
Defence says it does not have a preference for which SEM concept is actually adopted, so long as it meets the Commonwealth’s fu- ture needs for acquisition and through-life support (TLS) of a weapons system.
“The RFP is deliberately non-descriptive
40 | March 2019 | www.australiandefence.com.au
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