Page 8 - AVALON 2023 - Day 2 | DAILY NEWS

ARMY GETS READY TO

INTEGRATE THE INTEGRATOR

The Australian Army is upgrading its UAV team is honoured to be selected to provide ground control station or the aircraft, and
capabilities via Project Land 129 Phase this vital capability to the Australian Army. in the payload.’
3, for which Insitu Pacific was publicly The introduction of Integrator’s surveillance
declared as ‘preferred supplier’ on 11 March and reconnaissance capabilities will be a An important part of the project is integrat-
2022. However, the deal was signed prior significant force multiplier for the complex ing the UAV onto Bushmaster protected
to that date and work is well under way. challenges [the] army faces today and in vehicles and transport trucks. This will
the future.’ make units very mobile and allow UAVs to
Insitu was acquired by Boeing in 2008, and get closer to the frontline.
its Australian workforce of 90 is expand- Duggan further stated: ‘I think the one thing
ing to some 130 thanks to winning this that’s come out of the contract, and that On 3 November 2022, Orbital UAV
contract. Insitu Pacific offered Integrator the army has been very clear on, is they announced it had started delivering V3
and ScanEagle tactical UAVs to replace don’t intend to let the capability go obso- engines to Insitu Pacific. Todd Alder, its
the army’s Shadow 200 v1 UAVs, though lete. They’ve got a pretty aggressive plan CEO and Managing Director, commented:
the army selected only the more-capable to make sure the technology keeps getting ‘First engine shipments are a significant
Integrator. refreshed rapidly.’ milestone in this programme of work and
our broader relationship with Insitu Pacific.’
The contract, worth AUD307 million Duggan pointed out it will probably be nec-
(USD223.4 million), involves 24 aircraft to essary to upgrade the sensors every 2-3 Insitu Pacific is training soldiers how to
be delivered in 2023-24, as well as initial years to ensure they remain cutting edge, fly the UAVs, whereas the army teaches
support and acting as ground systems and whereas airframes have a ten-year lifespan. tactics. It takes 10-12 weeks to train
prime systems integrator.

© Insitu
The Australian Army’s 20th Surveillance
and Target Acquisition Regiment will oper-
ate the new Integrator UAVs, performing
missions such as gathering intelligence,
reconnaissance and surveillance, and
acquiring targets for other weapons sys-
tems like artillery. The government is also
investing AUD56 million in facilities at
Gallipoli Barracks in Brisbane.

Insitu Pacific stated ‘the majority of
manufacture and all assembly [is] to be
completed in Australia’. In fact, it predicts
82% indigenous content will be delivered
over the course of the contract.

More than 20 important suppliers include
Jayben Group (launch and recovery hard-
ware), LSM Advanced Composites, Orbital
UAV (engines) and Nova Systems Australia.
Furthermore, Ascent Vision Technologies
Australia is providing CM234 Spitfire
gimbals.

The Integrator adopts open architecture,
so this permits modular and swappable
payloads and ensures future-proofing. ‘So, the baseline airframe I don’t expect we’ll pilots – some 8-9 weeks at Insitu Pacific’s
Payloads such as electro-optic/infrared change a lot through the life of the project. Brisbane facility, plus an additional week
sensors, electronic warfare and synthetic We will probably do some work around pro- flying in the field.
aperture radar will be adopted, and one pulsion and changing, upgrading that. We
option for maritime environments is ViDAR. may do some work around the downlinks
as better radios come along, but primarily The Australian military is no stranger to
Andrew Duggan, Managing Director of the changes in the upgrades, in my mind, Insitu products, since both the army and
Insitu Pacific, noted: ‘Our Insitu Pacific will be in the software, whether it’s in the navy have flown the ScanEagle UAV.

8 | MARCH-01-2023 WWW.GBP.COM.SG/DAILY NEWS