Page 22 - Australian Defence Mag March 2020

22 DEFENCE BUSINESS ADM CONGRESS
MARCH 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
ABOVE: Chief of Army LTGEN Rick Burr
RIGHT: ASPI's Senior Analyst Malcolm Davis
panies and 40 per cent of that was with more than 1,600 SMEs. Several SMEs were already involved in Thales’ develop- ment of what the company was calling the Networked Future Augmented Small Arms (FASA) technology program – pre- sumably a possible successor to the ADF’s Thales-produced
EF88 Austeyr.
Jenkins said printing in titanium, reinforced plastics and
carbon fibre wound forged barrels were moving the weight of the new rifle towards the target of two kilograms - 45 per cent less than that of the EF88. With augmented aiming technologies, the probability of first shot hit had been in- creased from 20 per cent to 80 per cent.
“If you couple that augmented aiming capability with very good quality target data in a collaborative engagement en- vironment you are then able to extend the
effective range of the weapon very, very sig-
mindset; delegating delivery, blaming the contractor and not solving the problem; blindly following process; managing but not leading the team; failing to delegate decision-making authority to the lowest-possible level; and creating an over- cautious environment by over-reacting to bad news.
The emphasis on leadership above process for complex pro- grams, regardless of their domain, was key, according to Ellis.
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
The International Keynote address was delivered by the US Pentagon based Heino Klinck, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for East Asia, who reflected on the 100-year US- Australia relationship and the need to address common chal- lenges together over the next 100 years.
nificantly.”
Other capabilities included next-gener-
ation cycle control, target verification, in- frared capability, data fusion, and health usage monitoring of the rifle itself.
Mike Ellis, Senior Partner at manage- ment consultants McKinsey and Co, had some advice for Defence managers deliv- ering projects of what he termed ‘unprec- edented size and complexity’.
Major defence programs should be run as an enterprise, not as a normal project, even though security issues could affect the in- formation sharing which was vital to such large, complex endeavours; schedules were not met by optimism alone.
Common failings in the early phases of large projects included failing to inspire the organisation with a meaningful purpose; hiring individuals that do not have the right
WE EXPECT OUR FRIENDS
AND ALLIES TO PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE, BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE, OUR ADVANTAGE IS INOURALLIES.
Speaking about the US DoD’s vision for the Indo-Pacific region Klinck noted not everyone in the region shared their global vision for a rules-based order and China’s “willing acceptance” of friction in the pur- suit of its interests is of concern.
“As the security dynamic in the Indo-Pa- cific continues to evolve, the US-Australia alliance must continue to adapt to meet challenges that threaten our security and our shared values,” he said. “We expect our friends and allies to pay their fair share, but make no mistake, our advantage is our al- lies. China has only one treaty ally (North Korea), that juxtaposition is not lost on us.”
ASPI Senior Analyst Dr Malcolm Davis noted that the PLA Navy (PLAN) was set to overtake the USN as the world’s largest navy and was challenging the USN’s quali- tative lead in both platforms and weapons.
Long range trends suggested a steady al- beit slowing of growth in China’s defence