Page 4 - Australian Defence Magazine June 2021

4 EDITORIAL
JUNE 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
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KATHERINE ZIESING | CANBERRA
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What a difference 12 months makes. This time last year, we were on one of the vari- ous peaks of COVID life. International borders firmly closed, various parts of the nation in lockdown and going to Land Forces was a pipe dream. Hopefully many of you will be reading this edition at Land Forces in Brisbane, the first major show in almost 18 months.
This edition looks at some of those pro- grams and technologies; from tanks, self- propelled guns and Land 400 to C4 EDGE and disconnected operations and beyond. I am especially proud to see coverage from ADM’s Deputy Editor Nigel Pittaway and Multimedia Reporter Roya Ghodsi from Army Innovation Day, Army Robotics Expo and the first Quantum Technology
Challenge (P78). Our
online presence has
more video and mul-
timedia coverage as
well. Army and indus-
try working together
across multiple levels
to explore the art of
the possible is fantas- “I AM NOT AGAINST tic to see.
DEFENCE CANCELLING OR What has been less DELAYING PROGRAMS ON fantastic to see is how
relating to failed security milestones that saw stop payment clauses triggered last year. Both parties were working together to address these problems with Elbit Systems Australia restructuring their Australian business in a significant way to answer con- cerns raised. But the brutal way in which the contract was terminated is eye watering. Did Elbit see it coming? Maybe, or had at least feared it. Expectations were not man- aged well by either side.
I am not in the camp that has likened the program to Seasprite in terms of can- cellation; it’s very different in terms of in- service levels, cost, and scope. In all these elements, the BMS decision is larger. It was in service and working relatively well for years, the cost is at least twice that of Seasprite and the scope of the BMS in how it touches so much Army capability is huge.
I am not against Defence cancelling or delaying programs on reasonable grounds, far from it. I am very in favour of such movements when the organisation wants to fail fast, early and cheaply and learn about the art of the possible. That’s how innovation is fostered and adopted. The BMS case is not in this situation either.
Given the complete lack of information on the exact why and how behind the can- cellation many have drawn the same con- clusion; national security grounds. Once this card is played, all bets are off. The con- versation then happens at a different level. Classified, international, and government to government levels. The fact that Elbit Systems Australia is the local arm of an Is- raeli company has not gone unnoticed.
What does this mean going forward? I cannot answer that question as I do not have the clearance to write about them from the outside looking in. What I can comment on is that this could have been handled better. Army is connecting and working with industry in more open and transparent ways. The BMS decision is not ‘normal’ for either Army or CASG but it does remind industry that Defence is the customer and can make decisions as a sov- ereign part of government without ‘normal’ levels of openness and transparency. ■
REASONABLE GROUNDS, FAR FROM IT.”
Land 200 has abruptly ended. The WinBMS (Weapons Integrated Battle Management
System) from Elbit Systems Australia will have ceased operations on May 14, with less than a month’s notice at the time of writing. Earlier that same month, an ex- tension sustainment agreement had been reached and signed. For a system that has been in service for almost a decade and had billions of dollars spent, it is an ignomini- ous end to the program that was the begin- ning of Army’s digitisation journey.
Various solutions to replace the far-reach- ing program are being cobbled together at different levels, from mounted and dis- mounted through to brigade level opera- tions. I understand that Elbit and the Com- monwealth had their issues over the life of the program, with the most recent turmoil