Page 53 - Australian Defence Magazine Aug 2019

in recent times, the company has partnered with TitanIM, another local SME, on the Vanguard 3D simulation system, which is used for a range of applications across the ADF, including Army’s Land Simulation Core (LS Core) synthetic environment, the RealFires joint fires and effects simulator for training Joint Terminal Attack Con- trollers (JTACs) being installed by Collins Aerospace and CAE’s Enhanced Land- ing Safety Officer Part Task Trainer (EL- SOPTT) trainer at Nowra.
Calytrix Technologies’ CEO Shawn Parr says that simulation was still quite a new con- cept back when the company we first started and, because it was very dynamic, it was relatively easy to win contracts through the then Australian Defence Simulation Office (ADSO), DST Group and the single services.
Because it was a cutting-edge technol- ogy Parr says only the more agile companies were working in the space, but he doesn’t think that’s true in the current climate.
“I think simulation is now very much seen as a mainstream capability, which sits with- in the larger primes, and we’re only seeing
“While opportunities to work directly with Defence are arguably becoming increasingly more limited, Stephenson says the government’s AIC policy is having an effect.”
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the projects get bigger and bigger,” he said to ADM.
“Where we used to see innovative projects of $50,000 to $200,000, which didn’t inter- est anyone other than an SME, we’re now seeing simulation projects becoming much larger in scope and ambition and they are now in the realms of the primes. So, as an SME, we are almost always competing di- rectly or partnering with them.”
Parr says that working with the primes is now an essential part of securing Defence business, so Calytrix is no longer always viewed as a prime in the simulation space, but rather as key support to larger companies.
“Invariably it’s up to us. We need to ap- proach the primes and make them more aware of our capabilities, technologies and advantages – they’re often not seeking out innovation, so if they don’t know you with- in their business development divisions, you are going to miss out,” he added.
“We’re always looking for opportunities, like Army’s LS Core 2.0 for example, or the manufacturers of simulators themselves and whether there’s a place for radio com- munications or 3D virtual simulators like CNR and Titan Vanguard. Can we go in as a subcontractor and actually integrate those systems into their final solutions?
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