Page 14 - Australian Defence Magazine July 2019

NEWS REVIEW
INDUSTRY UPDATE
Defence partners with UK on materials research
DEFENCE has selected seven research pro- posals from Australian universities and in- dustry to develop and integrate advanced materials that will provide enhanced pro- tection for military platforms.
Research will enable the development of new adhesives for joining high temperature structures, processes for integration and re- pair of different composite types, and bond- ing of ceramic armour for enhanced protec- tion against bullets and missiles.
Successful proposals were submitted by the University of Southern Queensland, UNSW, RMIT University, Deakin Uni- versity, CSIRO and Qinetiq Australia.
Chief Defence Scientist Professor Tanya Monro congratulated the successful organ- isations on their proposals.
“These proposals will enable Defence to
solve growing scientific challenges by developing versatile new materials that will lead to improved performance and increased durability for our platforms,” Professor Monro said.
Research will develop of new adhesives for bonding ceramic armour for enhanced protection.
Proposals were sought in response to a joint call led by Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Group, the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, and the Defence and Security Accelerator. Parallel launches were held in London and Melbourne with over 120 delegates in attendance.
Professor Monro said the first synchro- nised bilateral call between the UK and Australia was a unique approach to sourc- ing innovative science and technology solu- tions under the Small Business Innovation Research for Defence initiative.
“The experience has given us valuable in-
sight and a wider perspective on problems shared by our two countries,” Professor Monro said. “This process could become standard to facilitate future international calls for high- quality, impact-focused research and increased collaboration with our allies. An opportunity exists for Australia and the UK to jointly prog- ress some of these projects to the next stage.”
A total of 70 proposals were received, 32 from Australia and 38 from the UK. The UK also selected seven, supplying funding of £562,700. The seven Australian propos- als will receive $900,000 from the Next Generation Technologies Fund.
Joyce, this 30 km niche is currently filled by a combination of brigade commanders oc- casionally down-tasking Shadow 200s and battlegroup commanders pushing the lim- its of the Wasps.
“For the last couple of years Shadows do occasionally get tasked down to the battle- group that has priority of effort, but it isn’t a lasting assignment. It’s not a guarantee,” LTCOL Joyce said. “Some of our battle- group commanders have been particularly innovative with their entitlement to Wasp and have been pushing that platform right to the forward edge of their area of influ- ence, but its more of an experiment than a permanent capability development.”
Interestingly, the tender sets out a re- quirement for a system that is available to both mounted and dismounted troops.
“We expect to be looking at largely mounted systems, but we do want to have the ability for a vehicle to pull up in a covert and protected position and then for the air- craft to be carried forward to a launch and recovery zone,” LTCOL Joyce explained. “We need it to be man-portable, but we are expecting that predominantly it will be moved around the battlefield in a vehicle.”
Defence intends to procure 17 SUAS+ for delivery in 2020 and expects the plat- form to have a life-of-type similar to a Wasp at between five and ten years, with a ‘line in the sand’ drawn at the six-year mark.
Army seeks new UAS
EWEN LEVICK | SYDNEY
DEFENCE has released a tender for a new small unmanned aerial system ‘plus’ (SUAS+) for use by Army battlegroups, Special Forces, and Regional Force Surveillance Units.
The tender sets out requirements for SUAS+ that can fill a capability niche be- tween the existing Wasp and Shadow 200 systems, covertly viewing targets at least 20 kilometres away for at least an hour.
“Army allocates tactical UAS to a level ap- propriate to the sphere of influence of that call-sign,” Army UAS Program Manager
Lieutenant Colonel Keirin Joyce explained to ADM. “An infantry platoon has the abil- ity to influence one or two kilometres, so they get a two-kilometre Black Hornet. A brigade has an AO of 150 by 150 kilome- tres, which is why they get a Shadow.
“The spot where we have a gap in develop- ing this layered approach to organic ISR is at the battlegroup level (500-800 soldiers).”
Whilst the tender sets out a 20-kilome- tre range requirement, LTCOL Joyce ex- plained that the SUAS+ is intended to in- fluence a radius equal to the range of Army’s largest guns.
“It’s an interesting one because each bat- tlegroup has a unit called a Joint Fires Effect Coor- dination Cell, which has a direct line to an artillery battery,” LTCOL Joyce said. “Australian artillery
The SUAS+ will give battlegroup commanders an organic ISR capability.
reaches 30 kilometres. “So this capability is about enabling a battle- group commander to have organic ISR – a system they can task themselves –
out to 30 kilometres.” According to LTCOL
14 | July 2019 | www.australiandefence.com.au
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