Page 134 - Australian Defence Magazine Sep-Oct 2022

134 LAND WARFARE
ARMY INNOVATION DAY
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
paper to allow the work to be analysed and displayed at QTC 2021.
“That was really successful, we’ve taken a number of those companies under con- tract now to develop what we call the ‘Ex- ploit’ phase, following the ‘Exposure’ phase through the challenge,” he said.
RIGHT: The Bushmaster electric Protected Military Vehicle (ePMV) has been developed by 3ME Technology in partnership with the Army’s Robotic and Autonomous Systems Implementation & Coordination Office (RICO) and DST
BELOW LEFT: ECLIPS is working with Hanwha Defense Australia to develop an automated reloading system for the AS10 Armoured Ammunition Resupply Vehicle (AARV)
LEFT: Adelaide SME Praxis Labs has
developed technology which allows a solar array to be integrated into the structure of a Bushmaster, to harvest energy from the sun when the vehicle is deployed
ly re-raised 10th Light Horse Regiment in Perth demon- strated a deployable deperm facility which acts as a pas- sive countermeasure against magnetic detection. Using the technology, metal objects can be made to appear much smaller than they actually are to a magnetic sensor and vice versa; for example, making a small metallic unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) appear like a main battle tank.
ARMY ROBOTICS EXPOSITION
Held on August 11, the Army Robotics Exposition launched not only attracted around 60 companies, but also RICO’s Robotics & Autonomous Systems Strategy v2.0.
ARW 2022 also saw the launch of electrically-powered Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle (ePMV) and a solar-enhanced Bushmaster variant which can harness energy from the sun while the
COL Smith added that one of the challenge
outcomes last year allowed metal objects
(weapons) moving underground to be tracked.
“We could detect a rifle-size object moving
underground at a depth of a few metres and a
train moving underground in excess of 80 me-
tres – and we didn’t know we could do that,”
he explained. “A second challenge last year was on Quantum camouflage, so if I can see a train that far underground, what does that mean for my armoured vehicles that are sat on the surface, can I detect them from space?”
fy the protected hull, but the feedback we’re getting is that the customer is impressed with what’s been achieved in a short timeframe.”
In its current form, the ePMV is capable of accelerating from 0-60 km/h in around four seconds and has a range of around 130 km – similar to the diesel-powered original. It is hoped that this range will increase to around 1,000 km when hybrid propulsion systems are introduced in the near future.
The solar-enhanced Bushmaster also on display at ARX 2022 has been developed by Adelaide Solar Technology
“ONE OF THE ELEVEN ORGANISATIONS WITH QUANTUM TECHNOLOGIES ON DISPLAY AT QTC 2022 CAME NOT FROM INDUSTRY LARGE OR SMALL, BUT FROM WITHIN ARMY ITSELF”
vehicle is deployed.
The ePMV has been developed by New-
castle-based 3ME Technology in partner- ship with RICO and DSTG. 3ME Tech- nology is a battery systems and e-mobility company, delivering clean technologies to the mining, marine and Defence industries and CEO Justin Bain told ADM that the company had been working on the ePMV program with RICO for a year.
“It’s very much been a collaborative ef- fort, being a first of type,” Bain explained. “A key challenge was that we couldn’t modi-
Proving that Army’s consideration process is equitable, one of the eleven organisations with Quantum technolo- gies on display at QTC 2022 came not from industry large or small, but from within Army itself.
An example of Army harnessing its own resources was the demonstration by a team of Reservists from the recent-
NIGEL PITTAWAY
NIGEL PITTAWAY