Page 56 - Australian Defence Magazine April-May 2021

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APRIL-MAY 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
“The delay to the release schedule is to allow the Project to amend the RFT to permit tender responses for a separate, costed, option for non-Defence ownership of the satellites. Defence intends to provide industry six months to respond to the RFT, which gives industry an additional month to the pre- viously advised closing time,” the industry notification adds.
and 2012 and are hardened communications satellites, pro- viding secure X-band and UHF military communications services to the UK MoD and its allies, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.
In September 2015 Airbus completed the 67,000 km
The RFT closing date is now December 24, 2021, with a down-select anticipated in 2022 and contract award in early 2023. Advice to industry is that Defence is look- ing for an Initial Operational Capability (IOC) in 2027, at which point the transi- tion from the existing Wideband Global Satellite (WGS) network is expected to begin.
AIRBUS SPACE LEGACY
Airbus is the operator of the UK’s current Skynet 5 mili- tary SATCOM system, provided to the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) as a full service outsource contract, but it has been involved in all generations of the Skynet program since 1974. Skynet 5 replaced the earlier generation Skynet 4 constellation from 2003, initially using the older satel- lites and augmenting them with an updated ground station network. The four satellites in the Skynet 5 constellation (Skynet 5A, 5B, 5C and 5D) were launched between 2007
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“THE RFT CLOSING DATE IS NOW DECEMBER 24, 2021, WITH A DOWN-SELECT ANTICIPATED IN 2022 AND CONTRACT AWARD IN EARLY 2023.”
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relocation of the
Skynet 5A satellite from 6° East to 95° East, to better provide military SAT- COM services to the UK and its allies in the Asia-Pacific region. The Skynet 5 network now provides near global X-band and UHF SATCOM coverage, from 178° West to 163° East, an area which takes in the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific. To support Skynet 5A operations, the company commissioned a purpose-built ground station in Adelaide in May 2016,
adding to existing stations in France, Germany, Norway, the UK and the US.
“The Skynet 5 is world-leading,” Rowse explained to ADM. “Around 17 different nations use its services, includ- ing the US. The system is unable to be jammed at the pres- ent time, it’s highly resilient and its systems are hardened.”
In July 2020, Airbus was awarded a UK MoD contract to supply and operate a new-generation Skynet 6A, designed to extend and enhance the Skynet 5 network, utilising more of the available radio frequency (RF) spectrum and up to date
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