Terry Nichols, MMngt, GAICD

The recently concluded Air and Space Power Conference 2024 explored crucial issues within the framework of the NDS and the 2024 IIP. Conference speaker, Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Robert Chipman, AO, CSC emphasised Australia's "Strategy of Denial" as it aims to deter conflict by prioritising force generation effort on capabilities highlighting the significance of airpower modernisation. However, AIRMSHL Chipman also mentioned that balance is needed to strengthen the workforce skills and overcome inefficiencies while recognising "a stable balance power", in strengthening global alliances and partnerships mainly across the Indo-Pacific region. Read more: https://lnkd.in/g6XA2tmJ #DefenceIndustry #DefenceCapability #DefencePartnership #IndustryEngagement #DeterrenceStrategy #DefenceInnovation #ASPCon24

3

Low Cost Mass-Produced Drones: a Tactical Advantage Air Marshal Chipman, former Chief of the Air Force, announced on the eve of the 2023 Avalon Air Show that Australia needs to consider and invest in low-cost mass-produced (LCMP) drones. LCMP drones are those, which either are readily available as off-the-shelf products and/or easily manufactured by sovereign capability, at a cost in the order of $10,000 or less. The announcement acknowledged the sharp rise in the use of LCMP drones recently and their significant contribution to air power. This blog explores some of the roles, advantages and considerations when acquiring this technology. 🖋️ Amanda Kent https://lnkd.in/gUaNKRMM

8

Join QinetiQ Australia’s Chief Solution Architect Graeme Bick and Old Dominion University Adjunct Associate Professor Dr Keith Joiner, as they discuss why Test and Evaluation, Certification, and Systems Assurance (TECSA) is essential for the delivery of Defence capabilities with Defence Connect. During the podcast, Graeme and Keith discuss: – How industry needs to adapt in an era of rapid modernisation – The challenges facing TECSA in Australia – Areas for improvement in the Australian TECSA workforce – How education providers can train Australia’s future TECSA workforce At QinetiQ, we're proud to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of Australia’s defence capabilities. Listen now: https://lnkd.in/gym7GpwF #WeAreQinetiQ #Defence #TECSA #AusDef #AUKUS

97

#ANNOUNCEMENT | Babcock is among other Primes and Australian Department of Defence delivering a new #supplychain system that cuts small and medium sized enterprise (SME) costs and compliance burden. Thousands of Australian SMEs will have the opportunity to work under one supply chain system that will slash red tape and the costs of doing business with the Australian Department of Defence and major primes in the nation’s defence sector. The system offers a 'one to many' solution where a supplier only needs to fill in the JOSCAR questionnaire once, even if it supplies multiple defence primes and the Department of Defence. Babcock Australasia CEO Andrew Cridland said: “Babcock is committed to minimising the barriers to entry for SMEs wanting to break into the defence industry. By using JOSCAR, we are making it easier for our partners and suppliers to do business with us.” The Australian JOSCAR system will launch June 2024. Learn more > https://lnkd.in/g2-umBzD #DefenceIndustry #SME #JOSCAR Hellios Information 

493

14 Comments

This concept has the potential to benefit small and medium enterprise and the primes in managing supply chain risk. But there are downside risks that need to be managed with such a concentration of corporate and personal information. Contact Vescient to control your governance, risk and compliance exposure in this fast evolving world.

6

Australia's largest peace-time investment in defence capability is underway. But acquiring new, technologically advanced equipment is only half the battle. To effectively operate and support this new equipment, we need a significant growth in a skilled workforce, especially in Test and Evaluation (T&E). QinetiQ is leading the charge with our T&E Sovereign Skills Program (TESSP). Launched in 2022, TESSP enables Australian professionals to gain hands-on experience in the United Kingdom, working alongside experts and evaluating advanced capabilities like the Royal Navy’s Astute-class submarines. Cathy Riach (Diener), Sector Head of Talent Acquisition at QinetiQ Australia, explains, "We need to continue growing T&E skills in Australia. The TESSP provides accelerated development through real-life experience across air, land, sea, and digital test environments." Read the full article in The Australian to learn more about how we are investing in Australian skills 👉 https://lnkd.in/gzY4fBrD #WeAreQinetiQ #AcceleratingCapabilty #TestAndEvaluation #WorkforceDevelopment 

116

1 Comment

At HDC2024, the Primes Panel brought together leaders from BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, KONGSBERG Defence, and Raytheon Australia to discuss opportunities for SMEs in the defence industry Key Insights: Andrew Chapman (BAE Systems Australia): Emphasised the need for readiness in aircraft sustainment and local collaboration. Amy List (Boeing Defence Australia): Highlighted Boeing’s extensive supply chain and the importance of SME relationships for innovation. Warren McDonald AO, CSC (Lockheed Australia): Stressed patience and persistence for SMEs entering defence systems. John Fry (Kongsberg Defence Australia): Demonstrated rapid capability delivery through collaboration, emphasising local manufacturing opportunities. Paul Hales (Raytheon Australia, General Manager Space & Mission Systems): Discussed Raytheon’s engagement in the Hunter region and the importance of evolving capabilities to meet modern defence challenges. He also underscored the role of programs like Capability Plus in integrating SMEs into the defence supply chain. The panel highlighted the essential role SMEs play in fostering innovation, sustaining capabilities, and contributing to Australia’s evolving defence needs. Building strong relationships and being prepared for long-term commitments are key for SMEs aiming to succeed in this sector. Photo Credit: 3L Photography #HDC2024 #DefenceIndustry #SMEs #Australia #Innovation

208

2 Comments

New Zealand Defence Minister Judith Collins and Foreign Minister Winston Peters are leading the creation of a new Defence Capability Plan. If that work is corralled through existing processes and knowledge within the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defence Force to assess what is needed now, their solid intent could well fail. Warfare is co-evolutionary. Each combatant force learns how to fight a specific enemy in a specific situation by actually fighting them, and responding and changing based on what their enemy does. Armed forces deal with pressure created by co-evolution by adapting and evolving faster than their enemy, thereby gaining incremental or decisive advantage. But just because a war fighter or a deployed force identifies an urgent need for change in equipment, tactics, or logistical supply to deal with co-evolutionary pressure, that doesn’t mean they have control over making that happen. In conflict, how effective military adaptation can be at the tactical war fighter level is dependent on political and bureaucratic oversight of military forces. So rather than accepting a wish-list of weapons systems, software, platforms and other “capabilities”, our political leaders need to be requiring paradigm-shifting innovation in thinking and process. What’s required is to turn our moribund, glacial and mind-numbingly bureaucratic peacetime defence establishment into an adaptive, agile, and end-to-end support system.

5

We’re thrilled to share this article from Tees Business, where they highlight our journey and the exciting milestone of Garry Lofthouse heading down under to Australia. 🇦🇺 Garry’s trip marks another chapter in our continued growth and success! Huge thanks to Tees Business for featuring our story! 🙌 📰 Check out the article and read more about our exciting journey. 🌏 #BusinessGrowth #Teesside #AppliedIntegration #Innovation #GlobalExpansion #TeesBusiness

27

Australia's Defence Department's recently tabled Annual Report for 23/24 reveals that the approved project cost for the first three Hunter Class frigates is $A27.1 billion. That's a smidgen over $A9 billion a ship. The US Navy's Constellation Class frigates are based on a highly modified version of Italy's FREMM (which was one of the contenders for Australia's Hunter program). The 10 ships in the US program so far generally have budgeted procurement costs of roughly $US1.1 billion to $US1.2 billion each. That's $A1.8 billion Australian dollars per ship - over $A7 billion less per ship. According to the latest Congressional Research Service report (link below): "The lead ship has a higher estimated procurement cost ($US1,386.7 million, or about $US1.4 billion) than the follow-on ships because it is at the top of the production learning curve for the class, and because the lead ship’s procurement cost incorporates much of the detailed design/nonrecurring engineering (DD/NRE) costs for the class." (I'm including this because a response I expect is that the Australian cost will include such one-offs.) A funny thing is that this US Navy Constellation Class program is considered scandalous in US Defense circles because it's costly and the program to deliver them is slow. But the US Navy only selected the ship in April 2020. The first in class was to be delivered in April 2026, but is now delayed by 3 years to April 2029. There will almost certainly be cost growth from the $A1.8 billion a ship if the US Navy procures more at the end of the 10 ship fixed price contract, but even a 50% increase still makes them cheap as chips compared to a Hunter. In Australia, BAE's Hunter design was selected in 2018 and the first ship is scheduled for delivery to the RAN in 2032 - to enter service a couple of years later, at a cost of $A9 billion a ship. So, from here in Canberra, with our Hunter frigate program as the comparator, the scandalous US Navy Constellation program looks like a fast program delivering exceptional value for money.....

101

39 Comments

The Albanese government's 2024 National Defence Strategy (NDS) and Integrated Investment Program (IIP), launched on April 17, begin a biennial defense policy development process as outlined in the 2023 Defence Strategic Review (DSR). These documents emphasize the continued importance of the space domain for the Australian Defence Force (ADF), reflecting more continuity than change from previous policies. Australia’s launch geography is a key factor prompting the signing of a Technology Safeguards Agreement with the United States on launches and returns. https://lnkd.in/eTF22JdU Australian Defence Magazine Royal Australian Air Force Defence Australia RealClearDefense United States Department of Defense #AustralianDefence

6

In a significant blow to Australia’s defence capabilities, the federal government is cancelling what would have been the nation’s largest-ever space project: a A$7 billion military satellite communications system, writes David Tuffley from Griffith University. The decision was confirmed in a press statement today. It comes just 18 months after the Albanese government gave the green light to the ambitious program. The project’s cancellation would mark a dramatic reversal for a program that was meant to make Australia’s military communications safer at a time when the cyber threat landscape has been steadily evolving. (via The Conversation Australia + NZ) #manufacturing #australianmanufacturing #defence #defenceindustry

5

1 Comment

The exploding suitcase of mismatched capability ambition and available funding that the Defence Strategic Review was meant to address has simply been extended for decades rather than resolved, writes SAA's Dr Marcus Hellyer. With the new, permanent structural spend on ships and submarines that is dominating the investment budget (forever), there are no longer periods where large investments in non-maritime systems have room in the budget. So, there is no longer budget space that opens up to replace retiring capabilities let alone acquire new ones. As existing capabilities reach their life of type, the list of things jostling for space in the shrunken budgetary space left over from shipbuilding will expand. Several observers have suggested that the coming decade will be difficult for the ADF since important new capabilities such as ships and submarines won’t be delivered until the end of the decade. That’s true, but it may not be the best way to view the situation. Rather, under the current plan the ADF is looking increasingly like it will be a distorted force for the long term, not a focused one. Read the analysis here:

43

6 Comments

Defence's innovation, science, and technology strategy, "Accelerating Asymmetric Advantage - Delivering More, Together", emphasises the need for the defence industrial base to contribute to the development of advanced and future-ready technology. Chief Defence Scientist Tanya Monro AC has highlighted the importance of delivering credible and potent solutions. Industry faces the crucial question of how to adapt its thinking, processes, and manufacturing to meet this demand. It is imperative to revamp the entire acquisition process and industrial approach to incorporate modern manufacturing techniques at the required scale and production rate. Australia must transition from solely investing in innovative ideas, to scaling-up production efficiently. Thanks to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute for featuring these insights in The Strategist. For further details, you can explore the full article at: https://lnkd.in/gDdGgTXu #letsgo #teamaustralia

62

2 Comments

The statistics about the metastasizing growth in star rank and senior APS positions in Australia's Defence organisation coming out of Senate Estimates are bad news just from a cost and taxpayer point of view: our ADF and APS seniors are paid 2 and 3 times as much as US and UK counterparts, who have slightly bigger jobs...Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Q Brown versus our CDF Angus Campbell, for example, or Deputy Secretary of Defence Hicks v Secretary Moriarty (noting that the US Secretary of Defense is our Minister for Defence position). But the extravagant cost of our top heavy ADF and APS leadership in Australia is a secondary problem. The bigger issue is that the top structure of Defence with all these star rank and SES positions is now so complicated, overlapping and hard to understand that Defence now spends most of its time trying to understand and engage with itself. That means as an organisation it has little bandwidth to engage outside itself, so we should not be surprised that its actions and directions are increasingly out of step with what our security environment demands - and what is possible, including from Australia's industrial and tech companies. Cutting the senior ADF and SES numbers considerably (a 30 per cent reduction may be too small) would not just save money to be spent on actual capability - and more junior personnel using the weapons and systems being bought. It would also simplify and speed up how Defence works. A simpler Defence organisation would respond faster and better to rapid and complex change than the clunky, internally-obsessed, over ranked organisation we see now. Read more here:

155

30 Comments