Page 14 - Australian Defence Mag March 2020

14 NEWS REVIEW INDUSTRY UPDATE
MARCH 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
REDARC WINS WORLD-FIRST THREAT EMULATION CONTRACT WITH ADF
REDARC Defence Systems has secured its first major contract with the Department of Defence.
On the 16 December 2019 REDARC Defence Systems signed a multiyear, multi- million-dollar contract to deliver Multi As- pect Threat Emulation Systems (MATES) to the Army.
The owner of newly formed REDARC Defence Systems, Anthony Kittel, wel- comed the first major contract.
“The commitment of the Australian Army to engage innovative Australian com- panies to provide solutions is to be com- mended. I look forward to our collaborative team of 4 Australian SMEs delivering the first systems in 2020,” Kittel said.
MATES are full-sized, 3D replicas of military vehicles made by GaardTech from metal with an exterior that replicates the cosmetic and thermal appearance and shape of a military tank.
The systems include REDARC’s Thermal Signature Enhancement Kits (RTSEK). This technology is critical for establishing realistic high fidelity thermal vehicle signatures required to practice using smart thermally guided munitions. These attributes make MATES some of the most realistic practice targets on the market. The company says the systems are also an ‘eco-friendly and economical choice’, being easy to deploy, fully trans- portable and recyclable.
The delivery of MATES to Army began with an earlier project, when REDARC Defence Systems successfully delivered the REDARC Thermal Signature Enhancement
LEFT: The contract is a first for REDARC.
Kits (RTSEK) in March 2019. The kit enabled Army to conduct its very first SMArt 155mm artil- lery firing practice. Fol- lowing the project, Army sought to further develop a complete threat emula- tion to be used in train- ing activities.
REDARC identified GaardTech Targets through Team Defence Australia trade shows as a company who could
assist with meeting the new requirement. “Our objective at REDARC Defence Systems was to listen to our customer needs and develop a local solution,” Mike Hartas, REDARC Defence Account Man- ager said. “This was an opportunity to take the RTSEK technology to a new level and
to do so, we engaged with our Australian SME partners FormCut and Intellipar- ticle, and created a new partnership with Queensland based business, GaardTech Targets. It was the strength of our joint ca- pabilities that would deliver the Multi As- pect Threat Emulation System (MATES).”
“MATES will demonstrate true Aus- tralian innovation whilst enabling the Australian Army to be leaders in train- ing design and target prosecution, this is something we are very proud to work on,” Steen Bisgard, Owner and Director for GaardTech, said.
“By using Australian SME’s to meet the requirement we know the money is being spent in Australia and we are growing an exportable, innovative solution,” Hartas added. “The signing of this contract sup- ports real jobs growth in all four Austra- lian businesses.”
Established in late 2019, REDARC De- fence Systems is an Australian, privately- owned defence business.
US APPROVES LONG-RANGE ANTI-SHIP MISSILES FOR RAAF
THE US State Department has approved an FMS to Australia of up to 200 AGM-158C, Long Range Anti-Ship Missiles (LRASMs) and related equipment for an estimated cost of US$990 million (A$1.47 billion).
The Commonwealth has requested to buy up to 200 Lockheed Martin AGM- 158Csandupto11ATM-158CLRASM Telemetry Variants (Inert). Also included a r e D A T M -15 8 C L R A S M , C a p t i v e A i r Training Missiles (CATM-158C
LR ASM), containers, support
and test equipment, publica-
tions and technical documen-
tation, personnel training and
training equipment, US gov-
ernment and contractor repre-
sentatives technical assistance, engineering and logistics sup-
port services, and other related
elements of logistics support.
RAAF intends to use the mis- siles on its F-18 Super Hornet
aircraft. LRASMs are armed with a pen- etrator and blast fragmentation warhead and employs precision routing and guidance, a multi-modal sensor suite, weapon data link, and enhanced digital anti-jam GPS to detect and destroy specific targets within a group of numerous ships at sea. Based on the AGM- 158BJASSM-ER,theAGM-158Cisalso compatible with the Mk 41 Vertical Launch System fitted on the Adelaide class frigates.
LOCKHEED MARTIN
REDARC