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Northrop Grumman Corporation has sought expressions of interest from Australian industry to “join them in their efforts to support the Royal Australian Air Force with Project AIR 6500”.
The RAAF is seeking to replace (or upgrade) the ADF's existing air defence systems, with the intention of procuring a "Joint Battle Management System (JBMS) that will interconnect the many disparate platforms, systems and sensors across the air, land, sea, space, electromagnetic and cyber domains into a collaborative environment that provides shared situational awareness of the battlespace and the ability to rapidly plan responses to threats".
Such a JBMS would be used to co-ordinate and synchronise ADF operations, including the tracking and engagement of forces with an area of operations, and be deployable in addition to supporting Australian-based capabilities.
“Northrop Grumman aims to lead industry support to the RAAF as it fields a survivable, scalable and modern, next-generation JBMS under AIR 6500. We’re committed to a sovereign capability that’s designed and developed through close collaboration with other Australian industry members,” said Chris Deeble, chief executive, Northrop Grumman Australia.
“We recognise that a program of this size, scope and complexity will demand the most innovative, best-of-breed capabilities and a prime systems integrator partnering with Australian industry who can deliver world-class capabilities to the Australian Defence Force.”
Northrop Grumman confirmed it is "engaging with a range of industry members, including small businesses, with the goal of creating an Australian AIR 6500 solution that brings the best capability for the best value".
The AIR 6500 project is currently in the requirements development phase leading to Defence committee consideration in 2020. A solicitation to industry for the capability partner and industry team lead role is expected in 2021.
The Australian Department of Defence is working with selected major defence primes on elements related to the project design and that is expected to continue throughout 2020.
Decisions have not yet been made on the location of workforces or potential suppliers. The delivered system will be a classified and protected system.
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