Defence conducted the latest in a series of industry briefs for its combined Lethality (Land 159 and 4108) program in Melbourne on January 31.
The briefing was delivered by CASG’s Land Systems Division shortly after the release of a Request for Proposals (RFP) on January 15 and provided industry representatives with a broad-brush overview of the Commonwealth’s requirements and the opportunity to ask questions of subject matter experts.
The program is seeking to acquire a range of lethal and non-lethal small arms and direct fire support weapons systems under a Supplier Engagement Model (SEM) solution, but Defence has no preference on which particular model to adopt at this time and is looking for feedback from industry on the best way forward.
The RFP closes on March 13 and is seeking to elicit proposals from companies looking to either fulfil the role of prime contractor and/or systems integrator for some or all of the capabilities being sought, under one of the SEM models, or to act as a supplier-only within one or more of the eight individual capability streams within the Lethality program.
Program overview
Formerly known by their individual program names, Land 159 (Small Arms Replacement) and Land 4108 (Direct Fire Support Weapons Replacement), the two have now been combined under the ‘Lethality’ program umbrella.
The Commonwealth is looking to industry to deliver enhanced lethality and a capability overmatch to the ADF and will acquire a range of weapons systems – comprising platforms, surveillance and target acquisition ancillaries, ammunition, facilities and target and simulation systems.
The four key tenets of the program are weight reduction and the maximisation of rail space on small arms weapons, enhanced weapon modularity, improved terminal ballistics and enhanced fire control systems.
Taken as a whole, the lethality program is intended to provide a capability advantage for Defence’s Soldier Combat System (SCS) capability.
“The Lethality program will ensure ADF combatants operating as part of a combined arms team, will have a range of state of the art lethal and non-lethal systems that will decisively provide a capability advantage against emerging adversaries, by being capable of detecting, identifying and engaging threats by day of night, in all weather and environmental conditions,” Defence says.
Supplier Engagement Model
For the delivery of the Lethality program, the Commonwealth intends to establish a long-term contract, or number of contracts, for the provision of weapons systems and services via one or more Supplier Engagement Models (SEMs).
Defence says it does not have a preference for which SEM concept is actually adopted, so long as it meets the Commonwealth’s future needs for acquisition and through-life support (TLS) of a weapons system.
“The RFP is deliberately non-descriptive to which SEM will best meet Department of Defence needs,” Defence says. “This is intended to afford industry latitude to present solutions that think outside the norm of Defence business models within a bounded framework provided by the SEM. The Commonwealth will consider any SEM that provides a more effective means of delivering lethality capabilities for Defence.”
However, the Commonwealth will retain control of certain aspects of the acquisition and sustainment of products, which it says will “necessarily impose some limits on the scope of some services provided under all SEMs”. The reasoning behind this is to allow the Commonwealth to maintain its traditional responsibilities in the acquisition and sustainment of ADF materiel.
Potential SEMs identified include Managing Contractor (MC), External Service Provider (ESP), Integrated Support Contractor (ISC), Product Supplier, but Defence is also open to other innovative solutions proposed by industry which can provide the Commonwealth with a similar level of schedule or cost benefit.
“The Lethality program is seeking industry input to assist in shaping the SEM strategy to rapidly develop and deliver capability to Defence,” Lieutenant Colonel Byron Cocksedge, project director Land Systems Division, told industry representatives at the recent information briefing.
Capability Streams
The Lethality program has identified five Enabling Streams under which umbrella the Capability Streams sit and include Target Systems and Simulation, Integration (both digital and physical, across maritime, air and land platforms), Sustainment, Munitions and Weapons Ancillaries Integration (including digital sights and advanced sensors). Each of these Enabling Streams relates to the services and capabilities which could potentially be delivered by under the auspices of a SEM.
The capability streams themselves consist of the following systems:
- Assault Rifle
- Close Combat System (including Low Profile Weapon System, Sidearm, Personal Defence Weapon, Hand to Hand Combat Weapon, Shotgun and Assault Breaching System)
- Sniper System: (Medium Range Anti-personnel Sniper capability, Long Range Anti-personnel Sniper Capability, Anti-Material Sniper Capability, Sniper Surveillance Capability, Sniper Soldier Combat Ensemble)
- Machine Guns (Light, Medium and Heavy Machine Gun Systems)
- Direct Fire Support Weapon (Short, Medium and Long Range Direct Fire Support Weapons, Light Weight Mortar, Light Weight Automatic Grenade Launcher [AGL])
- Munitions (Less than Lethal Munitions and Command Detonated Munitions)
- Family of Grenades
- Emergent Weapons Technology (including Unmanned Weapons Systems and Loitering Munitions).
However, at the recent industry briefing it was noted that the Commonwealth will not be seeking cost or schedule data with regard to the Assault Rifle at the present time, but further information will be forthcoming at a future point in time.
“The Commonwealth is in the final stages of introducing the EF88 into service,” Defence says. “This weapon platform, combined with world-leading sights and night and day optics and ammunition, is performing as an optimised system and is currently meeting all Commonwealth requirements. Further enhancements to the basic system are funded and will be fielded.”
The remaining capability will be delivered in three distinct tranches, with the first occurring between FY 2022/23 and FY 2024/25, the second between FY 24/26 and FY 2026/27 and the final one between FY 2026/27 and FY 2028/29. Although the make up of each tranche has already been defined, Defence says that it reserves the right to bring capabilities forward or push them to the right, subject to changing national requirements.
Industry Briefings
The briefing on January 31 was latest in a series of engagements with local industry and was well-attended, with additional seating needed to be brought in during the session.
Brigadier Dave Smith, director general of Integrated Soldier Systems (ISS) told attendees that the key takeaways were that the Commonwealth was looking for suitable service providers to deliver the lethality and capability advantage required by the ADF and is seeking innovative solutions for delivery of supplies under the respondents’ proposed SEM.
“Following this RFP process, the Commonwealth may conduct a Request For Tender (RFT) process, or multiple separate RFT processes with shortlisted respondents,” he said.
From an Australian Industry Capability (AIC) viewpoint, it was noted that Munitions and Small Arms Research, Design, Development and Manufacture has been identified in the government’s Defence Industry Capability Plan (DICP) as a Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority (SICP). As a result, SMEs bidding for the Lethality program may be eligible to share in the $17 million per annum SICP Grant.
“Land 159/4108 will be a major contributor/influencer into the development of the SICP implementation plans,” representatives were told. “SICP will be part of the AIC plan (and) you will need to address it, you need to consider how you are going to engage with industry.”
The first briefing session was held in November 2017 with the primary objective on gaining industry feedback on Smart Buyer initiatives for acquisition and sustainment of capability. Secondly, it provided an opportunity for industry to propose solutions and options and to consider the forming of teams to reduce delivery risk.
In the resultant Request For Information (RFI), Defence says approximately 730 responses from a diverse range of respondents’ were received, in which nine companies indicated a willingness to act as Prime Contractor for some or all of the capabilities, while up to four indicated a willingness to act as a systems integrator. The results also indicated that more than half said they were willing to collaborate or enter into partnering arrangements with other companies.
During the RFI process, Defence also engaged professional services company KPMG to conduct market analysis and the results were merged with those of the RFI to inform the current RFP.
The RFP is therefore structured on the Commonwealth’s SEM requirements for acquisition and sustainment and products, which are grouped into capability streams.
“Respondents should clearly articulate the scope of their proposed SEMs and/or Capability Stream(s),” Defence says. “The Commonwealth may shortlist respondents for inclusion in one or more subsequent procurement process or processes.”
Future timeline
Once the RFP closes on March 13, the evaluations will be tabled before the Defence Investment Committee in mid-2019. The importance of the Lethality program can arguably be gauged by the fact that the committee has adjusted its meeting schedule to suit the post-RFP timeline.
Defence says respondents will be notified sometime in mid-2019, followed by Gate 1 consideration later in the year. A subsequent RFT process is not expected to commence before late 2019, with Gate 2 consideration following in early 2022. Tranche 1 product delivery will then begin in the 2023 timeframe.
This article first appeared in the March 2019 edition of ADM.