Page 48 - Australian Defence Magazine Feb 2020

48 FROM THE SOURCE CHRIS DEEBLE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 50
working with them on a sustainment model, so understand- ing the cost of ownership will be an important part of that. We have that model here and we’re basically helping refine that for our Australian customer to understand what the cost of ownership is going to be in the longer term.
Triton is a very different capability and, while I think peo- ple would understand what it takes to introduce a P-8A into service, because we’ve done aircraft systems many times be- fore. So understanding the amount of information that will flow, being able to integrate that into our network so that we can exploit the data adds a lot more dimension to the Triton capability. We’re at a critical transition planning phase and we look to work collaboratively with Defence to ensure that the capability can seamlessly transition into service
“THE FACT THAT SINCE 2016 THERE HASN’T BEEN ANY SUBSTANTIAL UPDATES AND NO INCREASED VISIBILITY INTO EXACTLY WHAT’S MOVING AROUND AND WHY IT’S MOVING AROUND MAKES IT VERY DIFFICULT FOR INDUSTRY TO RESPOND.”
We also hope that we get the next tranche of four remain- ing aircraft, a total of six approved, at the start of next year by Government, and by doing that we think there will be some advantages, including cost savings and industry op- portunities, that we will be able to leverage by getting all of the aircraft agreed in that next tranche.
We also think there’s a good argument for a seventh, which was originally in the White Paper. We believe that the argu- ment is really around the nature of the operations that we need to undertake, including how Triton can contribute sig- nificantly to the Pacific Step-up strategy.
ADM: Northrop Grumman Australia was the first company to sign an AIC (Australian Industry Capability) deed a year ago at the Avalon Air show for the Triton program. What does this mean in practice? How does it fit into the Global Supply Chain (GSC) deed already in place? It’s had different stages over time as well; we were coopera- tive, we stepped back and now we’ve stepped back in. DEEBLE: True; the whole of industry policy needs to be looked at very carefully. I’m an advocate for a more seam- less consideration of AIC and GSC outcomes - you need
ABOVE: Northrop Grumman was the first company to sign an AIC deed, on the Triton program at Avalon 2019
FEBRUARY 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
to look at that more like a continuum. I’m convinced that from my Defence experience when I ran the JSF industry program, that you leverage companies into acquisition pro- grams and you’ve got to do that early. If you come into pro- grams where they’ve already progressed, then the supply chains are often set. So it means that your AIC outcomes may not be the things that you would value at the end of the day but if you can leverage companies into AIC and they represent value for money in that context and you get them the right component part, then they can represent value for money in sustainment because they understand that capa- bility and have the required skills to sustain it.
And if they represent value for money in acquisition and sustainment, they should then be the perfect company for GSC consideration because they’re now at the right quality standard, you can leverage them into global supply chains and look at them more broadly. I think that policy is very stovepiped at the moment.
We did sign that first AIC Deed but we also are signato- ries to the GSC Deed and the problem is that often the two overlap in terms of the nature of the work that you want to do. If you’re undertaking something like the Triton capabil- ity, you want to get component parts that can feed back into the broader Triton program, not just components for our part of six or seven systems.
So the answer is we have signed up, we are progressing and I believe that we’re on track for meeting those AIC obliga- tions. We, like many companies, I think are finding it hard to achieve all our GSC goals but we’ve done a lot of hard work and we are starting to see an up-kick in performance which will continue over coming years. But to get GSC out- comes you really need to be winning work here in Australia and growing the business. So an important part for Northrop Grumman is the investments we’re making into Australia which will flow down through our supply chain. We’re also looking at establishing collaborative spaces like the Distrib- uted System Integration Lab here in Symonston, where we can work with industry players, integrate small to medium businesses into that environment to demonstrate capability. But we’re also going to have to win more work; the more work you win then the greater opportunities you open up for Australian industry in both AIC and GSC.
ADM: In the last few months there has been much debate around the need for an update to the Defence White Pa- per and its associated documents, like the Defence Inte- grated Investment Program (DIIP) – do you think this is on the cards for 2020?
DEEBLE: There is definitely a need for a strategic update and a new DIIP to enable industry to develop our strategic planning. But what I’m not seeing is industry playing a more significant role in the evolution of these strategies from pre- Gate 0 right through to Gate 1, and understanding there is a point at which Defence is going to market, that you’ve got to be concerned about probity post Gate 1 leading to Gate 2.
I think industry has a very significant role to play in the pre-Gate 1, definitely pre-Gate 0 space. Industry has a key role to play in what is the art of the possible? And as De- fence is looking at significant system of systems integration
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