Page 157 - Australian Defence Magazine June 2021
P. 157

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 The bottom line is, the team’s done a phenomenal job, and by team I mean Industry, CASG, Defence and Army. To make a capital acquisition program with the same degree of assurance and due dil- igence in a compressed timeframe is truly phenomenal. So at the moment, on track and I think a good example of what can be achieved in a compressed timeframe.
ADM: C4 EDGE (see p36 for more on this program) is demonstrating comms technology and concepts later this year. Are there other programs where you think this collaborative approach would be worthwhile?
STUART: The short answer is yes. What we want to do is effectively use this as a learning activity, a proof of concept. While exactly replicating C4 EDGE in other programs may not work, the prin- ciples of the approach are applicable. That is to communicate requirements, to work collaboratively on the art of the possible and set ourselves collectively a set of milestones and challenges that prove or disprove our capacity to solve those problems and do so in a way that brings industry in very early and builds trust through co-investment.
One of the other really positive aspects of C4 EDGE are the range of other col- laborations between various industry partners, ‘spinoffs’ if you like. Where we’ve brought industry together, and connected them for the benefit of other endeavours. So, I think it’s going well and I expect it will deliver, a ‘proof of concept’ and then hopefully open up opportunity for industry to apply its capacity to our needs in an area that they haven’t had those opportunities previously.
ADM: The CBRNE and capabilities under JP2110 I understand are taking longer than planned. How is Army fill- ing that gap?
STUART: I wouldn’t characterise it that way. Initial Materiel Release (IMR) was achieved under Phase 1B of that project, which is effectively a system refresh. That was achieved just last month and Final Materiel Release (FMR) will be completed over the next year. The main thing is that our capability maintains pace with evolution in the threat and we’re confident that it does. A big part of that obviously is interoperability with coalition counterpart capabilities.
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