Page 54 - Australian Defence Magazine June 2021
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LAND FORCES
C4 EDGE
JUNE 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
    Supported by a range of in-house testing equipment, GME takes pride in producing products which are designed to meet and exceed not only Australian but also International standards, as required. Additionally, with our manufacturing facility retaining an ISO 9001 Manufacturing Process Ac- creditation, GME remains an industry-leading manufacturer. “C4 EDGE is one of the most important programs for Aus- tralia's national security and sovereign capability,” according to a statement from the company. “This program will deliver to Army a sovereign tactical command, control, communica- tions, and computers system for battlegroup and below.
Whilst new to the defence industry, GME is fortunate to the robust foundations of sovereign engineering and manufacturing capabilities and ability to collaborate with other Australian companies to securely create innovative and customised RF communication solutions for our na- tions defence forces.
HDE
HDE will be providing a speaker microphone and a single- sided headset to the C4 EDGE program.
A true micro-SME, HDE is led by CEO Greig Hutton, a former ADF member himself.
“HDE is currently conducting a trial with the ADF. With the exception of the circuit board manufacture, ev- erything has been made in Australia, from the 3D printing to the final assembly,” Hutton explained to ADM. “I know I am a small player in the scheme of things but since my
LEFT: Outlander Solutions has approached the problem from a first principles aspect; how would you design if you didn’t have legacy or ITAR constraints?
involvement with the C4 EDGE Program, I have benefit- ted from the support and advice received from other com- panies.” So much so, that if the trial is a success, HDE will be able to use partners in the C4 EDGE program to ensure all products are built in Australia.
The HDE product on trial has been 3D printed to al- low for rapid adjustments to the physical form before the design is finalised and to ensure that the end users are happy. HDE already has a patent for one of the devices and is looking at expanding the range and moving into export markets where possible.
INSITEC
Among other technical elements, Insitec Military Intel- ligence and Space Systems (MIS) will provide to the C4 EDGE program the mounted and dismounted computing environment, tactical network systems, integration ser- vices and tools – all supported by a new distributed Open Systems Integration Laboratory (OpenSIL) facility co- lo- cated across six locations around Australia.
Standing up of the OpenSIL represents a major invest- ment by the Insitec Group in national collaborative infra- structure and will form a progressively accumulating and enduring sovereign industrial capability that will be able to support other Australian Army and ADF programs.
“Stepping up to the challenge of providing systems inte- gration capabilities to the C4 EDGE program will draw on aggregate Insitec Group capacities bolstered over 2020 as part of a wider enterprise growth initiative,” Insitec chair- man Andrew McNeill said. “These have been further en- hanced in 2021 through the acquisition of Horizon Defence Systems (and its successful integration into the MIS busi- ness), along with the achievement of ICT Partner Arrange- ment (ICTPA) status with the Department of Defence, the latter of which has roughly doubled our Group workforce.”
“HDS has assembled an impressive ecosystem of Aus- tralian industry collaborative members who will now be- come part of an expanding Insitec partner ecosystem,” Insitec Pty Ltd Managing Director, Michael Branch, said.
Insitec had joined the HDS corporate-based Australian industry collaboration group over two years ago and has since played a lead role in substantiating the organisation’s bid for Joint Project 9111, the ADF’s future Joint Com- mand & Control capability technology and services busi- ness opportunity
“Joining EOS, one of our key partner organisations, in bringing together local industry capacities to deliver the C4 EDGE program is a really exciting development for both companies,” Branch said. “It represents a truly transforma- tional initiative by the Commonwealth and the Australian Army that builds upon the intent of Defence’s First Principles Review (2015), as well as the reassessment of supply chain assurance priorities outlined in the more recent (2020) De- fence Transformation Strategy.
 ADM KATHERINE ZEISING.














































































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