Page 42 - Australian Defence Magazine November 2019

VIASAT
COMMS AND C4I
SATCOMS
“A HAN maximizes warfighter capabilities
and resilience by providing simultaneous access to both commercial and DOD networks so that warfighters can seamlessly roam across this hybrid infrastructure.”
ASDSS aims to enable resilient comms.
better capability for Defence,” ADIESA chairperson Kylah Limmer explained to ADM. “During the day we discussed some of the engagements we have had with Defence over the last 12 months and one of them re- ally stood out as an exemplar – the JP9102 Project Team.
“The team, led by LTCOL Mick Hose, first had informal discussions with an ADIESA Board member in November 2017 about how he could engage with in- dustry to help his team to better under- stand industry’s MILSATCOM capability and to also help industry better understand the ADF’s need. Further discussions fol- lowed and in April 2018, LTCOL Hose and his team briefed the ADIESA Board to consider how we could assist with engage- ment with industry.
“Following this meeting, ADIESA es- tablished a formal SATCOM Focus Group with the support of the then DG Joint C4 Capability. This established a framework where ADIESA and the JP9102 could to- gether work with industry to share and gather information about MILSATCOM capability. Together, ADIESA and JP9102 planned and organised an industry brief held in September 2018, where more than 150 companies, not just ADISA members, attended from around Australia and over- seas,” Limmer said.
“This was followed by a more detailed working session with approximately 40 companies in attendance. This helped in- dustry gain a better appreciation of the needs of the ADF and helped JP9102 to frame a future RFI. We also understand
that, separate to this, the JP9102 team held individual meetings with around 50 com- panies to ensure the market was well in- formed of the program. The team also pre- sented at numerous industry events, include MilCIS 2018.”
In January 2019, JP9102 released an RFI to industry. This resulted in a number of responses from industry in April 2019. The JP9102 team indicate that they highly val- ued the responses and that they have been an important input into the team’s ongoing preparation of the business case for Govern- ment consideration, according to Limmer. The program office is scheduled to give an- other update this month at the MilCIS con- ference in Canberra.
“ADIESA firmly believes that the high level of engagement from the JP9102 team resulted in a well written RFI and an indus- try sector that was ready to respond,” Lim- mer said. “This process has led to positive outcomes for both Defence and industry. We recommend that this model be consid- ered by other projects in Defence.
“We acknowledge that it is probably not suitable for all projects. However, for proj- ects that have a large number of potential options and have complex capability and in- dustrial interactions, we believe it provides an exemplar.”
42 | November 2019 | www.australiandefence.com.au