Page 32 - Australian Defence Magazine November 2021

32 DEFENCE BUSINESS
NOVEMBER 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
JP9360 TO PROVIDE A SHARP FOCUS ON SPACE
Underlining the growing importance of the space domain, the Commonwealth plans to invest around seven billion dollars in developing ADF space capabilities over the coming decade.
NIGEL PITTAWAY | MELBOURNE
THE investment in space is flagged in the Defence Strate- gic Update 2020 (DSU2020) and underpinned by the an- nouncement in May of the creation of a dedicated Space Division within the RAAF, to be led by the current Head Air Force Capability, Air-Vice Marshal Cath Roberts.
The Space Division will come into being in January 2022 and will assure Defence’s access to space, enabling multi-domain operations by overseeing the development of a sovereign space capability. While a sovereign satellite capability will be delivered under other projects, the es- tablishment of a sovereign space domain awareness (SDA) program first will be a key enabler.
“We use space daily for understanding the weather, navigating, access to geospatial information and shar-
ing information across Australia or across the world,” Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Mel Hupfeld noted when he announced the formation of an RAAF Space Divi- sion. “Defence is delivering capabilities including space domain awareness, sovereign controlled satellite com- munications and space-based Earth observation, and navigation.”
To oversee the development of a sovereign SDA capability, Defence launched JP9360, (Space Domain Awareness) in 2020, which brings six earlier projects together as a single program. In September this year, Defence further briefed industry that the delivery of capability under the overarch- ing JP9360 project will be sought via a series of tranches that will take advantage of maturing technologies.
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