Page 11 - AVALON 2023 - Day 3 | DAILY NEWS

DEFENCE SATELLITE

COMMUNICATIONS STILL UP IN THE AIR

One programme attracting attention at AUSSAT. Optus has launched ten satellites Skynet programme in the UK; this satellite
Avalon Airshow 2023 is the multi-bil- since 1985. cluster is to be launched in 2025.
lion-dollar Joint Project 9102 (JP9012),
which is a programme seeking a sovereign For its part, Northrop Grumman Australia A decision on the winner of JP9102 was
defence satellite communication system is working with AECOM, Blacktree expected before the end of 2022, but noth-
for the ADF. Tender responses closed on Technology, EM Solutions, Inmarsat, L3 ing has been made public so far. Whichever
10 January 2022. Harris and VOCUS. team the Department of Defence selects,
the ADF will have to develop and expand a
JP9102 spans with a 25-year opera- Lockheed Martin Australia is partnering cadre of personnel able to manage what is
tional life, plus ground-based equipment with Av-Comm, Blacktree Technology, a unique satellite capability for the country.
like antennas and modems. This will be Calytrix Technologies, Clearbox, Conscia,
Australia’s first sovereign military satellite DXC Technology, EM Solutions, Linfox, At present, the ADF relies on an Optus C1
network designed to increase communi- Ronson Gears, Shoal Group and STEM communications satellite that is approach-
cations ‘capacity, resilience, agility and Punks. Lockheed Martin’s credentials ing the end of its life. Additionally, the
flexibility’. include acting as prime for the US Air Force’s military has access to the American WGS
Advanced Extremely High- Frequency constellation, plus it purchased access to
Including lifecycle costs, the project is (AEHF) SATCOM network that the ADF 20 channels on Intelsat IS-22 till 2024.
budgeted at approximately AUD4 billion already accesses.
(USD2.87 billion), and Canberra wants it A serious problem with the WGS system
operational by the middle of this decade. Boeing Defence Australia’s team includes is that access or bandwidth is not always
Clearbox, the Indigenous Defence and
It is understood that five bidders responded Infrastructure Consortium, Leidos Australia, guaranteed, given that Australia is merely a
foreign partner and it must endure a delay
to a request for tender. The five primes are Saber Astronautics and Viasat. The prime is in turnaround from US Army Pacific. This
Airbus, Boeing Defence Australia, Lockheed already heavily involved in Australia’s mod- was experienced during bushfire relief oper-
Martin Australia, Northrop Grumman ernisation of the Defence High-Frequency ations in 2020, for example. In wartime, it
Australia and Optus. Since the government Communications System, and also deliv-
is demanding significant Australian indus- ered Project Currawong communications would be even more difficult to access
try content, each prime leads a number of networks. Furthermore, Boeing operates American satellites, so the concept behind
smaller local partners. Ironically, some of the American Wideband Global SATCOM JP9012 makes a lot of sense.
these firms appear in multiple tenders. (WGS) network.
Such satellite communication networks will
Optus is Australia’s largest and most Airbus leads Team Maier, incorporating be even more critical once MQ-4C Tritons
experienced satellite operator. Alongside Blacktree Technology, Clearbox Systems, and MC-55A Peregrines start operating, as
Mitsubishi Electric, Raytheon Australia Microsoft, UGL and Willyama. Airbus has they will produce vast amounts of data that
and Thales Australia, Optus forms Team experience with Phases 5 and 6A of the needs to be transmitted.

© Optus
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