Page 6 - Australian Defence Magazine Sep 2021

6 NEWS REVIEW INDUSTRY UPDATE
SEPTEMBER 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
LOCKHEED MARTIN AND NORTHROP GRUMMAN DOWNSELECTED FOR AIR 6500
THE government has selected Lockheed Martin Australia and Northrop Grumman Australia to continue to the final stage of the competitive evaluation process (known as CEPS Stage 2) for the ADF’s new Joint Air Battle Management System.
“The government’s $2.7 billion invest- ment in a sovereign Joint Air Battle Manage- ment System will deliver a critical capability to defend against increasingly advanced air and missile threats,” Minister for Defence Peter Dutton said in a media release.
“Through the competitive evaluation pro- cess, Australian industry has demonstrated its versatility and adaptability to provide in- novative proposals in the challenging field of Integrated Air and Missile Defence.
“The Joint Air Battle Management Sys- tem will connect our ships, aircraft and other capabilities together in a way that multiplies their defensive power.”
In the same release, Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price congratulated the successful participants on their ‘well-con- sidered and highly competitive responses.’
“Defence found the down-selected com- panies demonstrated the best understand- ing of its capability requirements, as well
as a strong commitment to developing Australian industry capability,” Minister Price said.
“I look forward to seeing the advanced technical solutions and prototypes that will be developed as these companies re- fine their final offering for the Joint Air Battle Management System.”
The competitive evaluation process will select an Australian company to lead the delivery of the Joint Air Battle Manage- ment System and provide the core archi- tecture of Defence’s future Integrated Air and Missile Defence capability.
“Northrop Grumman’s unmatched ex- pertise in developing complex, multi-do- main, multi-mission weapons systems will help meet Australia’s sovereign Integrated Air and Missile Defence needs both today and into the future,” Christine Zeitz, Gen- eral Manager Northrop Grumman Asia Pacific, said.
“We will employ a highly collaborative ‘JABMS Enterprise’ approach that will bring together capabilities developed by Australia’s Defence industry, including ac- tive and passive sensors, intelligent agents, data fusion and processing, through a so-
LEFT: The competitive evaluation process will select a company to lead the delivery of the Joint Air Battle Management System.
lution architecture that is flexible, open, modular, secure and adaptable by design.”
“Today’s announcement marks the next step in Air 6500 Phase 1 to work in partnership with the ADF and industry partners to support the RAAF’s vision to transform the Air Force into a next-gen-enabled force through delivering a sovereign highly advanced Joint Air Battle Manage- ment System to protect Australia’s security,” Joe
North, Chief Executive Lockheed Martin Australia and New Zealand, said.
“We look forward to collaborating with Australian industry and the Royal Austra- lian Air Force to progress the AIR6500-1 solution as part of the CEPS2. We would like to congratulate Northrop Grumman for also being down selected for the CEPS2.”
Boeing Defence Australia and Raythe- on Australia also participated in the first stage of the competitive evaluation pro- cess, and Defence says they will ‘continue to be involved in developing the Joint Air Battle Management System and support- ing the Integrated Air and Missile De- fence Program.’
The successful strategic partner for the Joint Air Battle Management System is ex- pected to be announced in late 2023.
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