The integration, automation and performance upgrades will provide the FPDA nations – Australia, the UK, Malaysia, Singapore and New Zealand – with increased situational awareness through one Recognised Maritime/Air Picture for the conduct of combined joint exercises, from planning to execution.

Boeing Defence Australia's vice president and managing director Darren Edwards said Boeing used Australian engineering to deliver a deployed capability that vastly improves situational awareness and decision making capabilities for the FPDA forces during exercises.

"The upgraded system delivers an enhanced capability enabling FPDA forces to conduct exercises using a secure connection," Edwards said.

As part of the upgrade, Boeing Defence Australia designed a virtualised server system to reduce overall hardware and software lifecycle costs and to expedite the addition of consoles and data or sensor feeds during future exercise scenarios.

Commissioned during Exercise Bersama Shield in May 2017, the new system, named the IADS Command and Control Information System (ICCIS), resides within the CJOC located at the Royal Malaysian Air Force Base Butterworth.

The new system integrates multiple data and sensor pictures from the Singaporean and Malaysian air battle management centres onto a single screen, instead of multiple screens under the legacy system. During FPDA exercises, this presents HQIADS commanders with a single, integrated battlespace picture at HQIADS, and importantly across new remote training sites in both Malaysia and Singapore.

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A new fully integrated in-house simulation training capability also provides for real-time training, strategy and planning of future battles.

The key features added to the ICCIS are being incorporated into the Boeing-built Vigilare ground-based air defence system, with phase one due for delivery to the Australian Defence Force by the end of September 2017.