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Leidos is among three new firms tapped to join a Boeing-led team bidding for the opportunity to deliver a new defence SATCOM system to the ADF.
Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) has revealed Leidos Australia, Viasat and the Indigenous Defence and Infrastructure Consortium (IDIC) will join Saber and ClearBox in supporting its push to secure the Commonwealth government’s JP 9102 Australian Defence SATCOM System contract.
If selected, the bolstered Boeing-led industry team would be tasked with delivering a sovereign system designed to enable the joint command and control of deployed Joint Task Forces by leveraging communications technology with enhanced range and capability.
The team has committed to building in-country space capability, aimed at providing the Australian Defence Force with flexibility, resilience and agility.
“Boeing is committed to providing a modern sovereign solution to the ADF with high confidence on schedule and cost,” BDA emerging markets director Matt Buckle said.
“To deliver this, we are partnering with strong businesses who offer best-in-class capability here in country.”
Leidos’ involvement would include the provision of cyber security and network integration services, software development environments and cyber test ranges.
“Leidos Australia is excited to collaborate with BDA to offer a resilient and effective solution for JP9102,” Leidos Australia chief executive Paul Chase said.
“As always, our local team of 1,400 people are committed to helping the ADF deliver their mission."
Global communications firm Viasat would be responsible for leveraging its experience delivering military and commercial satellite constellations over the past two and half decades to help inform delivery.
“We appreciate the opportunity the Commonwealth has given Viasat to contribute to its satellite communications systems through our work on the JP 2008 programs,” Viasat Australia government systems managing director Rob Teasdale said.
“Viasat has a proven track record of supporting government and commercial programs in Australia, and would be honoured to extend our work with the ADF on the JP 9102 initiative.
"Through our commercial and government program initiatives, as well as our next-generation ViaSat-3 satellite that will serve Asia-Pacific, we believe we can continue to build sovereign satellite engineering capability in the region.”
IDIC’s role would involve exploring opportunities for Indigenous-owned and controlled businesses to participate in the JP 9102 program, by “aligning discrete work packages to their capabilities” and supporting capability growth.
“To have First Nations businesses and people involved from the very beginning allows us to develop and build capability and capacity,” said IDIC director George Mifsud.
“After all, what could be more sovereign than having Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses working on a sovereign SATCOM solution?”
The JP 9102 tender was released in April, with Lockheed Martin Australia also expressing interest in the program.
Last month, Lockheed appointed Mike Scott as program director and Julia Dickinson as chief engineer, military satellite communications, to drive its expansion in the space domain.
Dickinson will be responsible for the overall Australian engineering performance for Lockheed Martin’s JP 9102 program solution.
The JP 9102 tender is scheduled to close on 10 January.
[Related: Boeing partners with Clearbox Systems for SATCOM program]
Charbel Kadib
News Editor – Defence and Security, Momentum Media
Prior to joining the defence and aerospace team in 2020, Charbel was news editor of The Adviser and Mortgage Business, where he covered developments in the banking and financial services sector for three years. Charbel has a keen interest in geopolitics and international relations, graduating from the University of Notre Dame with a double major in politics and journalism. Charbel has also completed internships with The Australian Department of Communications and the Arts and public relations agency Fifty Acres.
