Page 23 - Williams Foundation Integrated Force Design Seminar

Designing the Integrated Force: How to Define and Meet the Challenge?

I want the trainers there, as well; so that when we’re maintaining one part of the system at sea, it’s the same
people in the same building maintaining those things that will allow us to make future decisions about
obsolescence or training requirements, or to just manage today’s fleet.

I want these people sitting next to each other and learning together.

It’s a mindset.

It puts as much more effort into infrastructure design as it does into combat readiness, which is about numbers
today.

You want to shape infrastructure that is all about availability of assets you need for mission success, and not just
readiness in a numerical sense.

Getting the right infrastructure to generate fleet innovation on a sustained basis is what is crucial for mission
success.
And when I speak of a continuous build process this is what I mean.

We will build new frigates in a new yard but it is not a fire and forget missile.

We need a sustained enterprise that will innovate through the life of those frigates operating in an integrated
ADF force.

That is what I am looking for us to shape going forward.

There were two other industrial presentations at the seminar as well.
The first was by Lt. General (Retired Jeff Remington of Northrop Grumman and provided him with an
opportunity to highlight the challenges to building the joint force seen from an American perspective. He
highlighted how the service specific architectures placed barriers in terms of shaping a more general
approach to the integrated force.
And as the key enabler of several Australian systems, Wedgetail and Triton, clearly Northrop is a key player
in shaping the way ahead for an evolving integrated force for Australian defense, which is interoperable with
its closest allies as well.

The Wedgetail case illustrates the path of how the ADF actually got onto the path of working beyond a
narrowly requirements dominated approach and taught the ADF and MoD more generally the importance of
shaping a new approach. Boeing is the prime contractor, but Northrop provides the key radar system around
which Wedgetail is built.

The Chairman of the Williams Foundation, Air Chief Marshal (Retired) Brown described the learning curve with
regard to Wedgetail and whereby the RAAF got the new capabilities.

Question: As Chief you decided to push your new aircraft – Wedgetail and the KC-30A – out to the force rather
than waiting for the long list of tests to be complete.

Why?

Air Marshal (Retired) Brown: Testers can only do so much.

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