Raytheon Australia has signed a $70 million contract with the Defence Materiel Organisation for the provision of Enhanced Position Location Reporting System (EPLRS) and MicroLight radios and associated support under Joint Project 2072.
The much-delayed JP2072 is a multi-phased project to progressively provide Australia’s Defence Force with the land elements of an integrated Battlespace Communications System.
As an important step towards meeting the ADF’s objectives, including networking the Adaptive Army, this acquisition under Phase 1 of the project provides the digital radio backbone of the Battlefield Command Support System currently in service and for the Battlefield Management Systems to be procured under Land 75 and Land 125.
The contract includes a significant number of EPLRS and MicroLight radios as well as ancillaries, spares, support and training.
First deliveries under the contract are expected in the first half of this year.
Minister for defence materiel Jason Clare said the contract with Raytheon would provide:
• more than 1,000 radios, which would be mounted on Army vehicles, primarily Bushmasters and M113 armoured vehicles, and handheld portable radios to be carried by soldiers in the field;
• equipment needed to mount and operate the radios; and
• maintenance and support services for three years.
The EPLRS and MicroLight radios are part of the Raytheon family of mobile ad hoc networking systems which are manufactured by Raytheon Network Centric Systems and are in operation with the US and Canadian Forces providing high-speed battlefield digital communications.
EPLRS vehicular and handheld products are software programmable networking radios that support a broad range of applications, including secured high-speed on-the-move data exchange capabilities over a wide frequency band with effective electronic counter-countermeasures.
Raytheon Australia’s managing director, Michael Ward said it was significant that the acquisition was being carried out by the DMO as a direct commercial sale with Raytheon Australia.
This sale will deliver the capability quickly, affordably and with assurance that an in-country support capability will be established and maintained.
To this end, support will include the provision of operational, maintenance, training and supply support mainly through the Raytheon Support Facility (RSF) located at Amberley in South East Queensland.