Cobham Special Mission and Acacia Systems, a leading South Australian defence software and systems engineering company, have teamed up on a Dash-8 fleet modification project, with aircraft integration work commencing last month at Cobham’s aircraft maintenance hub in Adelaide. The project will see Acacia, together with Cobham, upgrade critical technology on board Cobham’s fleet of Dash-8 surveillance aircraft and within the ground operations command centre.
Cobham’s Managing Director of Special Mission James Woodhams said, “Cobham and Acacia have a successful track record collaborating on customised Mission Management Systems (MMS) for aircraft considered national Tier 1 assets. Acacia is designing and developing the software integral to the success of our Dash-8 aircraft modification project that is currently underway. The partnership will extend beyond Project Slingshot, with Acacia providing long-term through-life support for the software, including further development and improvements.”
Founder and Chairman of Acacia Systems Ted Huber said, “we are extremely proud of the work we have done with Cobham to date and are thrilled to continue this strategic partnership to develop and install custom software that contributes to safeguarding Australia.”
Cobham deploys highly-modified aircraft and specially-trained crew to conduct airborne surveillance and search-and-rescue operations for the Australian government. Modification and integration of these aircraft is undertaken in-house by Cobham in Australia, with the support of local SMEs, such as Acacia.
The ongoing partnership between Cobham and Acacia has been a catalyst for innovation and local investment in South Australia, and importantly has led to significant Australian industry capability. Prior to the development of the MMS system by Cobham and Acacia, Australian-based organisations had to rely on importing foreign-developed MMS.
“We are committed to working with smart Australian companies – such as Acacia – to continue to innovate and build our capability within civil and military domains in Australia and abroad,” Woodhams said.
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