Page 47 - Australian Defence Magazine Oct 2020

OCTOBER 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
FROM THE SOURCE SCOTT CARPENDALE 47
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of where that platform needs to go to support both the do- mestic and international markets.
Australia’s investment really was driven around the fact that there’s a great potential to retain and build a local ca- pability, both from a jobs perspective as well as from an aerospace development and manufacturing of aircraft in Australia point of view, but also continuing to build our supply base in Australia to be able to support a program of this scale which is really a step function change.
ADM: What is your market for ATS outside Australia, given the USAF seems to be interested in a competitor's platform?
CARPENDALE: The US government and USAF recently went through their Skyborg program and down selected to four com- petitors for the final phase of Skyborg. The Boeing solution was part of that down select, so we are still actively involved, and very bullish about our chances. That was on the basis of an ATS variant that we’ve been working on with our Autonomous Systems team back in the US who own the program, to ensure that we can meet the US government requirements.
We believe that that platform is really well positioned for the Skyborg program and we think that the ATS variant that we’ve been developing will support both the US gov- ernment program but also other international customers.
ADM: Just to be clear, you have a large ATS program go- ing on in both the US and Australia. Is that not a duplica- tion of effort?
CARPENDALE: No, it’s not because where we are in the pro- gram is we’re developing an ATS product line. The variant that’s customised to meet the requirements of the USAF pro- gram is based upon the variant we’re building here in Austra- lia, and so in terms of the development program, that’s based upon what we’re doing here in Australia. We are recognising that there will be variances required by different internation- al customers but the baseline program is the main structure.
ADM: Will T-7A meet Air 6002 requirements for a replace- ment lead in fighter without modification? If not, what modifications will be required and who will fund the de- velopment?
CARPENDALE: We think the T-7 is a fantastic fifth generation pilot training platform and part of a pilot training system, and there’s a real opportunity for T-7 to change the way in which the Australian pilot training curriculum can be based.
We’re at the very early stages of understanding specific requirements under Air 6002, so it’s a bit too early to specu- late exactly on what level of development may be required to get the platform and the training system to meet 100 per cent of the Commonwealth’s needs. We’re quite bullish about the chances on this program as well. The T-7, as it’s been developed, is a really capable platform and obviously
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