Page 16 - Australian Defence Magazine July-August 2021

16 LAND FORCES 2021
JULY-AUGUST 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
BOEING EYES CURRAWONG EXPORT MARKET
One the eve of the Land Forces exhibition, Boeing Defence Australia revealed that it is in final stages of development of the third and last iteration of capability for its Integrated Bat- tlefield Telecommunications Network, being supplied to Army under Project Currawong (Joint Project 2072 Phase 2B). With this final contracted capability, known as Release 3, to be rolled out from next year, BDA is now turning its attention to other opportunities to market the system at home and abroad.
Release 3 will add ‘red’ (Protected, Secret and Coalition Se- cret) networking to the ‘black’ (unclassified) capability now in service and deliver a Headquarters on the Move capability, fit- ted into Army’s G-Wagon, Hawkei and Bushmaster fleets. Re- lease 3 is now in the Test Readiness Review (TRR) phase and System Material Release (SMR) is expected to occur next year.
The scalable, distributable Currawong system has been de- veloped in-house by BDA and the intellectual property is owned by the Commonwealth, therefore avoiding ITAR issues should it be successful in the export market. Earlier releases of equip- ment are in service with deployed Army units and the Royal Australian Air Force’s Combat Communications Squadron.
tial customer.
“The UK is looking at the (bat-
tlefield telecommunications) prob- lem at the moment under its Trin- ity program and they have a very
similar requirement to the Australian Army,” Rawlinson said. “They are looking for a wide area network to connect their headquarters and they also have additional respon- sibility to provide communications for large NATO head-
quarters. We have a scalable solution for that.”
Boeing Defence UK will likely develop a solution, based on the Currawong system and tailored to the UK’s sovereign requirements, but BDA will perform a significant amount
of the development and support work.
“It will be a great opportunity for us and our existing sup-
ply chain, because there will be more hardware built here in Australia,” Rawlinson said.
He added a further near-term opportunity is Navy’s Sea 1442 Phase 5 (Maritime Tactical Wide Area Network) program, and he expects Defence will approach the market later this year for information on available systems. He said a maritime IBTN based on Currawong will not only meet Navy’s requirements, but also realise synergies across the ADF, including the conduct of future amphibious operations and systems training.
“Navy is looking for broadband connectivity across its major surface ships and they are seeking a capability able to evolve to meet future threats and requirements,” Rawlin- son said. “It makes sense for the ADF to share information across all three forces.”
SPECIAL FORCES HELICOPTER CONTEST PROGRESS
Although the companies involved in Army’s Land 2097 Phase 4 (Light Special Forces Support Helicopter) competition at
Land Forces 2021 understandably declined to discuss the pro- gram, ADM understands the Bell 429 is the preferred solution and the H145M has now been eliminated from the race.
The Airbus H145M had been proposed by Airbus Group Australia Pacific, against two teams – Babcock and Jet Avia- tion (formerly Hawker Pacific) – each bidding a solution based on the Bell 429 helicopter. An official announcement regard- ing the winning bidder is expected at Second Pass approval, currently scheduled to occur in the fourth quarter of this year.
“The project and the procurement process is ongoing, the tender is still being evaluated and it’s on time,” said Bell’s busi- ness director for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Rim, Dan McQuestin said. “I feel good about the Bell 429, it meets the specifications and it is an aircraft that enjoys high avail- ability rates, because it has low maintenance requirements.”
Army’s requirement specifies up to 16 off-the-shelf heli- copters in the four-tonne class, primarily to support Coun- ter-Terrorism (CT) operations. As such, the new helicopter will deliver an Air Assault capability, using small teams of Special Forces soldiers and will also be fitted with a fast-rop- ing system to allow troops to be rapidly inserted while hov- ering outside ground effect (OGE). Secondary roles include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), fire support and general utility. Although not currently mandat- ed, an armed capability has been included as an option.
In other battlefield helicopter news released just after Land Forces, the US Defense Security Co-operation Agen- cy (DSCA) announced that the US Congress has approved the sale of 29 Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardian attack hel- icopters to Australia.
The Apache is being acquired under Land 4503, replac- ing the Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH), under a sole source selection process, from 2028. Included in the estimated US$3.5 billion (A$4.52 billion) deal are 16 APG-78 Longbow millimetre-wave fire-control radars and Radar Electronic Units (REUs).
“The proposed sale will improve Australia’s capability to meet current and future threats, and will enhance in- teroperability with US forces and other allied forces,” the release stated. ■
ABOVE: Signallers from 7th Combat Signal Regiment work with Integrated Battlefield Telecommunications Network equipment.
BDA’s business development manager Darcy Rawlinson revealed government approval has been granted to market the IBTN concept defined by Cur- rawong to ‘Five Eyes’ nations, with the UK seen as a near-term poten-
“WE WOULD REALLY LIKE TO DEVELOP A PRODUCT THAT IS CAPABLE OF EXPORT”
DEFENCE