Page 48 - Defence Industry Guide #54 2021
P. 48

                                                                                                                                                                           48 LAND FORCES 2021 REVIEW
ADM’s Defence Industry Guide 2021 | Edition 54 | www.defencesuppliers.com.au
ter fleets. Release 3 is now in the Test Readiness Review (TRR) phase and System Material Re- lease (SMR) is expected to occur next year.
The scalable, distributable Currawong system has been developed in-house by BDA and the intellectual property is owned by the Commonwealth, therefore avoiding ITAR issues should it be successful in the export market. Earlier releases of equipment are in service with deployed Army units and the Royal Australian Air Force’s Combat Communications Squadron.
BDA’s business development
manager Darcy Rawlinson re-
vealed government approval has
been granted to market the IBTN concept defined by Curra- wong to ‘Five Eyes’ nations, with the UK seen as a near-term potential customer.
“The UK is looking at the (battlefield telecommunica- tions) problem at the moment under its Trinity program and they have a very similar requirement to the Australian Army,” Rawlinson said.
“They are looking for a wide area network to connect their headquarters and they also have additional responsibility to provide communications for large NATO headquarters. We have a scalable solution for that.”
Boeing Defence UK will likely develop a solution, based on the Currawong system and tailored to the UK’s sovereign requirements, but BDA will perform a significant amount of the development and support work.
“It will be a great opportunity for us and our existing sup- ply chain, because there will be more hardware built here in Australia,” Rawlinson said.
He added a further near-term opportunity is Navy’s Sea 1442 Phase 5 (Maritime Tactical Wide Area Network) program, and he expects Defence will approach the market later this year for information on available systems. He said a maritime IBTN based on Currawong will not only meet Navy’s requirements, but also realise synergies across the ADF, including the con- duct of future amphibious operations and systems training.
“Navy is looking for broadband connectivity across its major surface ships and they are seeking a capability able to evolve to meet future threats and requirements,” Rawlin- son said. “It makes sense for the ADF to share information across all three forces.”
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