Page 38 - Australian Defence Magazine June 2021

36 LAND FORCES C4 EDGE
JUNE 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
“They were happy with that response, very happy with the way that Australian industry came together and in No- vember [2020] we signed a follow on contract for $31 mil- lion which then has funded the activity, the entire dem- onstration activities, which will be complete by the end of 2021 December.”
That demonstration will essentially deliver a battle- group and below full architecture of accreditable, secure communications solutions, all the way from blue force tracking, satcom, crypto, waveforms, and multiple differ- ent radio architectures. It will also demonstrate the ability
astic and cooperative approach to design a mobile tactical communications system. Each company is bringing their own expertise and innovations to the table.
“In November 2021, C4 EDGE will demonstrate a rep- resentative C4 capability for an Army Battle Group. This includes radio systems for voice and data services (including satellite communications), cryptographic equipment, soft- ware applications and ancillaries. Given the range of capa- bilities on display, it is expected to generate a number of op- portunities for Defence to consider,” the spokesperson said.
COLLABORATION IN DETAIL
In order to facilitate this, all the companies have come together under a commercial architecture so that every- body’s IP is protected but also all the new IP that will be generated through this activity is maintained and sus- tained for future industry collaboration.
“The system is going through the first stage of an accredi- tation process, so there’s support from ASD to the program; and that we have created a number of both physical and vir- tual environments in which all this integration across the companies, which are based in six states and territories, can collaborate and bring all this together,” Sanderson explained.
There will be a C4 EDGE stand at Land Forces this year but the full final demonstration will be in the Canberra Region in November this year.
BELOW: Australian Army soldiers (L-R) Private Osama Ahmed, Corporal Daniel Murphy and Private Hayley Freeman check equipment to support the Vanuatu National Government Emergency Radio Network upgrade.
“ARMY’S GETTING A LOT MORE VALUE FOR MONEY THAN THEY’RE INVESTING,” SANDERSON SAID.”
to integrate robotic and autonomous systems into the network lethality solutions, other sensor solutions.
“Army’s getting a lot more value for the money that they’ve invested,” Sanderson said. “So there’s certainly a lot more than $35 million worth of effort, technology and capability be- ing put together and demonstrated.”
Army clearly agrees.
“C4 EDGE offers the Australian Army an understanding as to the readiness of Australia’s C4 industry to compete for future major Defence com- munications projects,” a Defence spokesperson said in re- sponse to questions from ADM. “The intent is to assess and build sovereign industry capacity to meet direction from the Australian Government, but also provide Army with a more agile communications system with assured
and illuminated supply chains to meet future challenges. “The experience from the C4 EDGE program has been positive to date. Industry have demonstrated an enthusi-
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