C4 EDGE (Evolutionary Digital Ground Environment) a defence industry cooperative of C4 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) leading a communications programme scoping the demonstration of a sovereign land battlegroup and below communications environment for the Australian Army has been joined by NSW-based, GME and by Brisbane-based EM Solutions.
Headquartered in Winston Hills, GME specialises in the design, development, prototype, test manufacturing, certification and support through the life of RF communication systems, including encrypted radios and emergency beacons using in-house Australian engineers, expertise and production line. GME joins ACT partners 1LM, Insitec, Kord Defence, Outlander Solutions, Penten, SkyKraft and Xtec in the programme.
The C4 EDGE programme will leverage internationally agreed open standards to grow and demonstrate Australian C4 (command control communications and computers) industry capacity and ability to deliver a battlegroup and below C4 capability demonstration. Ultimately, by the end of 2021 the programme will have delivered a proof of concept demonstration that shows the capability of Australian industry to further develop a protected, integrated and supportable sovereign system: one that delivers agile and resilient C2 functionality to meet the flexible, scalable and interoperability needs of a battlegroup operating independently or with partners.
Warwick Clancy, CEO of GME, said “GME are very excited to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime Australian industry opportunity. We are very proud to be a part of this team and are looking forward to delivering value to the Army in conjunction with other likeminded Australian organisations via EOS and the C4 EDGE programme.”
Headquartered in Brisbane. EM Solutions is a trusted technology developer of innovative microwave and on-the-move radio and satellite products that help to deliver high speed telecommunications anywhere in the world. Commenting on C4 EDGE, Dr. Rowan Gilmore, CEO of EM Solutions said: “EM Solutions is delighted to be participating in C4 EDGE. For two decades we have been exporting our locally designed and manufactured satellite communications equipment, but only in the past five years has the Australian Defence Force started to deploy ours. As evident with C4 EDGE, we applaud the continuation of the recent Defence Industry Policy to buy Australian, build national resilience and grow Australian jobs, whenever local industry is able to demonstrate its capability to do so in a cost effective way”.