Page 10 - Australian Defence Magazine April-May 2021

10 NEWS REVIEW INDUSTRY UPDATE
APRIL-MAY 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
NEW FORWARD OPERATING BASE TO BE BUILT ON COCOS (KEELING) ISLANDS
EWEN LEVICK | MELBOURNE
DEFENCE has opened expressions of inter- est for a new airborne electronic warfare/ ISR forward operating base to be built on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands to host M-55A Peregrine EW aircraft.
Although the expression of interest does not explicitly state which aircraft the base will support, the project falls under the Air 555 Phase 1 program for infrastruc- ture related to the introduction of the M- 55A Peregrine EW aircraft at RAAF Base Edinburgh. The contract for Air 555 in- frastructure at Edinburgh was awarded to Lendlease in December 2020.
Defence has previously said that the op- erating concept for the Peregrine fleet is a main operating base at RAAF Edinburgh and three forward operating bases in Townsville, Darwin and the Cocos (Keel- ing) Islands.
The forward operating base on the is- lands will be a modular facility pre-built on the Australian mainland. The success-
ful contractor will be re- sponsible for delivering and installing the base on the islands and maintaining it for 12 months afterwards.
All three of the Per- egrine’s forward operating bases will include a data handling and minor main- tenance capacity as well as storage facilities for the Peregrines’ self-protection flares.
ABOVE: RAAF’s fleet of P-8A Poseidons and M-55A Peregrine aircraft will forward operate from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
ULTRA has announced a contract award to commence work on the Variable Depth Sonar (VDS) system for the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) program – named the Towed Low Frequency Active Sonar (TLFAS).
The subcontract moves the development of CSC’s anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capability from the program
definition phase into the full
manufacture and delivery of
the vessels suite of sonars.
The TLFAS system is de- signed and manufactured by Ultra in Nova Scotia.
RIGHT: The Canadian Surface Combatant, like Australia’s Hunter class, is based on the Type 26.
In the two years since having been origi- nally awarded program definition studies for CSC, Ultra’s Canadian team has grown by over 150 employees, with another 80 roles expected to be made available in 2021.
“Ultra recognizes our responsibility to provide, through CSC, the highest pos- sible level of ASW capability to the Royal
Defence has previously
told a parliamentary committee that the Peregrine fleet will share the air opera- tions facility and minor explosive ord- nance storage facilities at RAAF Darwin with the P-8A Poseidons. The P-8As will also be forward deployed to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, although it is not clear whether the two aircraft will also share fa- cilities there.
Despite the commonalities between the Peregrine, Poseidon and Triton fleets, ADM has previously reported that up- grades on the Cocos (Keeling) islands to support Poseidon operations did not nec- essarily allow the islands to also support Triton operations. It is unclear whether the Peregrine forward operating base will indirectly introduce this capability.
Canadian Navy,” Bernard Mills, President of Ultra Maritime Sonar Systems, said. “We are therefore immensely proud of this contract award.”
“As we work to build the future fleet of the Royal Canadian Navy, we are pleased to see companies like Ultra stepping up to provide leading-edge technology for our shipbuilding projects,” Anita Anand, Minister of Public Services and Procurement, said. “The Na- tional Shipbuilding Strategy continues to provide opportunities for Canadian business- es of all sizes, from coast to coast to coast.”
The CSC is based on the Type 26 design that was also chosen for the Australian Hunter class frigate program.
ULTRA TO PROVIDE VARIABLE DEPTH SONAR FOR CANADA
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■ Land 400 RMA progress
■ C4 Edge breaking the mould
■ Tanks and engineering vehicle update
■ Brigade level protection technologies
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