Page 26 - Australian Defence Magazine Nov 2018

DEFENCE
C4I
SATCOMS
ing its Focus Group processes to the industry engagement, membership of ADIESA is not mandatory to attend this Focus Group and ongoing industry engagement – it is open to all interested Industry parties. The ADIESA executive would of course welcome any enqui- ries to join ADIESA from interested parties.
The mission
With an increasing bandwidth hungry 5th Gen force in the making, the ADF needs the Australian Defence Satcom Systems (ASDSS) as a vital part of any task, at home and abroad. This importance is reflected in the $2-3 billion Defence will spend on these capabilities between 2019-2029, according to the Integrated Investment Program.
“The ASDSS is to enable the Joint Com- mandandControlofDeployedJointTask Forces through resilient and responsive communications beyond the range and ca- pacity of other communications systems,” LTCOL Hose outlined.
Meeting the demands of the ASDSS will be centred on a blend of elements alongside 9102; building on the legacy foundation com- prised of the various segments of JP 2008, various terminal projects from the three ser- vices, and commercial contracts (for training, operations, platform support).
The ASDSS has a broad option set char- acterised by:
• Rapidlyevolvingtechnologies
• Increasing demand for higher and mul-
tiple bands
• Increasing trend for communications sat-
ellites to adopt more complex orbits
• Increasing opportunities for partnering
with industry or international partners
• Increased opportunities with peer space
capabilities, not just SATCOM
• Considerations for Australian industry
and the Australian Space Agency
• Considerations for significant invest- ments made to date via JP 2008
Like any good comms program, the fam-
ily tree of interrelated programs and proj- ects is prodigious. The interaction of legacy and new technologies will be a balancing act for the program office given the high cost nature of space-based capabilities. While the various phases of JP 2008 have not been the smoothest of journeys, the program office doesn’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
The satcom roadmap on show at the brief saw high mo- bility satcoms (narrowband), high capacity satcom (wide- band) and strategic ground based facilities alongside de- ployed terminals bringing a complicated picture together.
“The segment in space will need to be diverse in order to support maritime joint taskforce and amphibious joint task force, that both deploy a range of assets with very diverse requirements,” LTCOL Hose said. “These are underpinned by ground stations and network operations. This is so the joint warfighter can communicate essential C2 elements effectively wherever they are.”
Lieutenant Colonel Hose also acknowl- edged that aircraft are the most difficult plat- forms to work with in this regard as they move through all three dimensions, making them the hardest to maintain continuity with.
“The ASDSS will need to support point to point but employ a hub and spoke model to achieve these aims,” LTCOL Hose said, emphasising that system level flexibility over the lifetime of the capability, i.e open system architecture.
“We need to have agility to adapt and reconfigure during missions for users,” he said, acknowledging that there will be a
mandated requirement for interoperability between services, relevant Australian agen- cies and international partners.
Building a resilient system means that there will be a range of options available to choose from, making the most of both com- mercial and military technologies both now and into the future. But there will be inevi- table trade offs.
“In terms of resilience, not all threats are equal,” LTCOL Hose said.
He then spoke of the role of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites and the trade offs they pose.
“We need to understand that LEO plat- forms shift complexity, risk and cost to other elements in the space system,” he said, con- firming that the cost and contracting models from JP 2008 cannot be ‘cut and pasted’ into 9102. This is welcome thinking in this space given the strides that commercial technology has made since JP 2008 was developed. The technology evolution that is Space 2.0 and the ability to incorporate new technology el- ements as they become more readily available and affordable will also ne key.
“The upcoming RFI due in mid-January 2019 (to be followed by another industry brief later that month) is a true market in- vestigation opportunity to fill our knowl- edge gaps,” LTCOL Hose said. “We have a pretty good idea of what the market can offer us, now we just need to know what it costs and how that affects our tradeoffs.”
The upcoming RFI will significantly shape the Gate 1 case going to government in 2020 with Gate 2 expected in 2022 that will see the transition of the first works packages to acquisition with rolling gates and risk reduction activities in this phase.
ADM Comment:
This was probably one of the better indus- try briefing sessions the author has been to in some time. Comprehensive slides, a presenter who took questions and an- swered them, and an audience that was engaged. There was no sense that a pro- bity officer was sitting in the front row making discreet faces at the presenter. It would be good to see this approach ap- plied to other programs.
“In terms of resilience, not all threats are equal.”
JP9102 will aim to leverage the gains of JP2008 while exploiting a new generation of technology.
26 | November 2018 | www.australiandefence.com.au