Prime contractors collaborate to deliver ADF leading-edge HF comms capability

The collaboration agreement marks the companies’ partnership in responding to the Commonwealth of Australia’s request for tender for an Enhanced Defence High Frequency Communications System (EDHFCS) under Joint Project 9101.

JP 9101 aims to deliver what the Joint Capability Needs Statement (JCNS) identifies as: “Reliable, automated and survivable long-range high frequency (HF) radio communications capable of supporting command and control, tactical data exchange and internet protocol (IP) communications, as a primary bearer for users without access to satellite communications and as an alternate bearer for satellite communications users.

“The fixed HF network needs geographically dispersed sites for wide-area coverage, direction finding (DF) and redundancy. This capability is currently partially provided by DHFCS.”

JP 9101/Project PHOENIX is engaged with Navy, Army and Air Force to ensure that all requirements are understood, and that each gains an increased understanding of EDHFCS capabilities.

Babcock Australasia’s managing director – land, Graeme Nayler, said the agreement aligns the companies’ submission with the Department of Defence’s commitment to integration and collaboration, while delivering a robust and agile solution.

Nayler told Defence Connect, “JP 9101 is an extension of the work we do globally, the biggest contemporary HF system is the comparable UK program, which we have managed for the past 18 years; it is also similar to the New Zealand system Babcock has just secured the contract for.

“For Babcock, the way we view things is from the customer perspective, with a focus on world-beating capability, cost, risk profile and delivery time frame, particularly as the current program was on the projects of concern list. The collaboration with Lockheed Martin Australia was a way to address lessons learnt from the previous program and was a natural extension of the long relationship we have enjoyed.”

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In New Zealand, Babcock was recently awarded the contract to provide enhanced HF radio communications to the New Zealand Defence Force by 2023 together with a second contract to deliver through-life-support for the twenty years to follow.

This builds on work conducted by Babcock in the UK, where the company has provided a Defence High Frequency Communications Service to the UK Ministry of Defence for 18 years and welcomes the prospect of HF service delivery to the United States and Canada when the opportunity arises in future, providing a truly global solution to all nations of the Five Eyes Alliance.

Lockheed Martin Australia’s Rotary and Mission Systems business development director, Neale Prescott, said the companies’ partnership unites their vast breadth of experience and technical heritage in HF technologies to provide the right solution for the Australian Defence Force.

Prescott told Defence Connect, “Lockheed Martin Australia has been involved in the areas around HF radar and communications since 1997, with JORN.

“The company has drawn on this experience as a technology partner with a detailed understanding of system engineering, complex physics using the ionosphere and supporting Australian SMEs to support capability delivery.”

For both companies, supporting Australian industry content (AIC) and building the local capability of Australian SMEs is critical to the success of JP 9101.

Nayler explained, “Our big focus on the AIC is to include a transfer of skills and know-how locally, making the SME business partners more resilient moving forward throughout the spiral development process. This will help Australian businesses take part in technology insertion down the track, building capability that doesn’t exist locally yet.”

JP 9101 Phase 1 will help assist the ADF long-range communications end users with different levels of capability in terms of capacity and assurance.

Project PHOENIX proposes to build on the capability foundations of the extant DHFCS and deliver a more versatile long-range HF communications bearer system.

The new system is planned to achieve IOC in 2025, and will have a 15-year life of type (LOT).

Headquartered in Canberra, Lockheed Martin Australia is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation.

The company employs more than 1,000 people in Australia working on a wide range of major programs spanning the aerospace, defence and civil sectors.

In Australia and New Zealand, Babcock Australasia operates across defence, emergency services, and oil and gas sectors, supporting customers’ technical, program and complex platform requirements.

Internationally, Babcock International Group recorded revenue of revenue of around$9.5 billion in 2018-19 and has been trusted to deliver bespoke, highly skilled engineering services for over a century.