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A jointly funded report by Elbit and the Department of Defence has rebuked Defence’s management of the Army’s Battle Management System after Defence issued a “cease use” order for the BMS in April this year.
Defence issued the cease use order in April following allegations that the Australian Army’s Battle Management System was being used as a backdoor for Israeli spy activities, an allegation strongly denied by Elbit Systems.
“ELSA (Elbit Systems of Australia) has, together with the Commonwealth of Australia, undertaken an independent review of the technical elements of the LAND 200 Tranche 2 software development and acquisition process,” an Elbit spokesperson confirmed.
ELSA’s firm denials were supported by a senior Defence official in June, who confirmed to the Senate estimates foreign affairs, defence and trade legislation committee that there were no specific security issues with ELSA’s BMS software.
“The battle management system is one of the systems that we have for command and control. There is also a fire support network. There is an electronic warfare network. They're all enabled for command and control. This one is a key part of that from brigade headquarters down to company level and below and into vehicles. It is critical and is why this project is an important part of our future capability,” the senior Defence official said.
An ELSA spokesperson confirmed that the company looks forward to continuing its longstanding relationship with the Australian Army, having already collaborated together for more than seven years.
“Elbit Systems of Australia will continue to work with the Department of Defence on the future of the LAND 200 Tranche 2 program, in addition to preparing our bid for the Army’s Land 125 Phase 4 Integrated Soldier System tender,” the spokesperson said.
[Related: Elbit Systems of Australia teams up with universities to workshop Human Machine Teaming technology]
