Page 87 - Australian Defence Magazine June 2021

JUNE 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
LAND FORCES ARX & AID 85
Coincident with the
Chief of Army Symposium, held in Brisbane’s Convention and Exhibition Centre on April 19-20, Army’s Land Capability Group arranged a series of industry displays and presentations to identify critical new technologies which fit with its ‘Army in Motion’ and ‘Accelerated Warfare’ principles.
THESE displays and presentations comprised the Army In- novation Day (AID) 2021, held on the first day of the two- day event, and the Army Robotics Exposition (ARX) 2021 and Quantum Technology Challenge (QTC) 2021 on the second day.
In his opening address to the symposium, Chief of Army Lieutenant General Rick Burr highlighted the recent gov- ernment decision to acquire the Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardian as an example of the pathway to the Army in Motion and Accelerated Warfare ideals.
“This platform is a proven, mature helicopter already in service with allies and partners with a clear path to a future where it operates with unmanned aerial systems,” LTGEN Burr said. “Robotics, autonomy and manned unmanned teaming is an area we are actively exploring and you will see this here at the Army Robotics and Au- tonomous Systems Exposition. Other technologies such as quantum offer unprecedented capabilities in sensing, imaging, communications and computing.
“We must proactively prepare ourselves for when the technical readiness levels mature in defence applications. Right now, we are asking how Army fits within, comple- ments and informs emerging national and Defence quan- tum technology policies and initiatives. You would also know that our Army already contributes to other forms of military power such as space, cyber and information.
“As the technologies that enable operations in these domains become more available and affordable, the gap closes between well-equipped militaries and the motivated individual or group with a cause.
“Therefore, sustaining and maintaining a technological edge over potential adversaries is becoming more chal- lenging,” LTGEN Burr said.
ARMY INNOVATION DAY 2021
The focus of AID 2021 was ‘energy and environmental re- silience’, with Defence previously asking for submissions from industry in response to two sub-themes: Enhanced energy generation, transfer and storage; and alternative waste management systems. In response, 22 companies had stands in the exhibition hall and a range of emerging technologies were on display.
These technologies included a deployable, vehicle-based system to store large amounts of solar energy in a small form factor, which is being developed to potentially replace or complement Army’s current 40kVA diesel generators.
The concept, being developed by Western Australian SME Space Industries, harnesses technology used in the com- pany’s work on NASA’s Lunar Resource Extraction Vehicle (LREV), which will utilise thermal energy to perform min- ing operations on the Moon. The developmental work which may be of interest to Army is a deployable, vehicle-based system able to provide 45kW of power that can be used on deployed operations, or to power a small base operation.
LEFT: ARX 2021 showcased emerging robotics and autonomous systems (RAS) technologies with potential application across the Land force.