Page 42 - Australian Defence Magazine July-August 2021

42 INFRASTRUCTURE
JULY-AUGUST 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
Grumman MQ-4C Triton high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft. Northrop Grumman is planning to hand the first of a currently-planned six Tritons over to the Commonwealth in the US in 2023, but the commence- ment of infrastructure works has been put on hold since the Trump administration cut funding for the US Navy’s Triton program in 2021. The submission for this work is expected to be presented to the PWC in early 2022.
Tindal is also the recipient of redevelopment works, un- der the sixth stage of the US Air Force Force Posture Initia- tive (FPI), The 2021-2022 budget allocates $123.7 million to address functional deficiencies, capacity constraints and non-compliance of infrastructure, as well as delivering air- field improvements. This work is expected to be completed in late 2027 and the total expenditure is expected to reach $1.17 billion.
Another program in the Air domain which will see the completion of infrastructure at a number of RAAF bases is Air 6000 Phase 2A/B (New Air Combat Capability), which will deliver facilities at RAAF Williamtown, Tindal and the Defence weapons storage facility at Myambat, to support the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lighting II. This work will have already consumed $1.45 billion up to 30 June 2021 and the $5.5 million allocated in the 2021-2022 budget will bring the cumulative total to $1.49 billion.
LAND DOMAIN PROJECTS
The Army’s Project Overlander (Land 121) is a multi-phase project to replace its light, medium and heavy vehicles fleets and infrastructure work to support this long-running program has, or is, being performed at numerous bases and Defence establishments across Australia.
The 2021-2022 budget allocates further funding for two aspects of Land 121: Stage 2A will see a further $6.5 mil- lion of funding for bases in NSW (RAAF Williamtown, RAAF Richmond and Holsworthy), Queensland (Lavarack
LEFT: Air Commander Australia, Air Vice Marshal Joe Iervasi (right) with Flying Officer Kyle Reid at Distributed Ground Station - Australia at RAAF
Base Edinburgh.
Barracks Townsville, Gallipoli Barracks Enoggera and RAAF Bases Amberley and Townsville), the Northern Territory (Robert- son Barracks and RAAF Darwin), South Australia (RAAF Edin- burgh), Victoria (Puckapunyal), and Western Australia (Campbell Barracks).
The work is in support of Army’s B-vehicle fleet and will maintain workshops and repair parts stor- age facilities, support fuel points, loading ramps, was points and weighbridges and sustain shelters
and hard-standing areas. When the total program of work under Stage 2A is completed in late 2021, it is expected to have consumed $276.5 million.
Land 121 Phase 5B will spend a further $36.6 million in the 2021-2022 financial year, spread across works at Lavarack Barracks, Gallipoli Barracks, Robertson Bar- racks, Campbell Barracks, the Puckapunyal Military Area and Derwent Barracks in Tasmania. The facilities project associated with Phase 5B will deliver infrastruc- ture to support Army’s vehicles, modules and trailers and will be completed in mid-2024, at a total estimated cost of $183.3 million.
The facilities program associated with Land 2110 Phase 1B (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear De- fence) is delivering new facilities and refurbishing older in- frastructure at 14 bases and establishments across Austra- lia, to support Army’s CBRND activities. The work includes the provision of training and storage facilities and will be completed in early 2022. The 2021-2022 budget allocates a further $8.7 million for ongoing work, against an estimated total cost of $16.7 million.
PROJECTS IN THE SEA DOMAIN
In the Sea domain, a number of maritime infrastructure projects will receive further funding over the 2021-2022 fi- nancial year, including Navy’s major shipbuilding programs.
The $4 billion Sea 1180 Phase 1 project is delivering 12 Arafura-class Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) to the Royal Australian Navy, with the first vessel due to be launched in late 2021. Under the Navy Capability Infrastructure Sub- program, berthing, training, maintenance, logistics and support facilities will be constructed at HMAS Coonawarra (NT), RAAF Darwin, HMAS Cairns (QLD), HMAS Stir- ling and the Henderson Maritime Precinct in WA. $120.2 million of funding is allocated in the 2021-2022 bud- get across these facilities and when the works program is
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