Babcock Australasia and Lockheed Martin Australia have announced the signing of a collaboration agreement to deliver world-leading High Frequency (HF) communications to meet the Australian Defence Force’s Enhanced Defence High Frequency Communications System (EDHFCS) requirement under Joint Project (JP) 9101.
Also known as Project Phoenix, JP 9101 will deliver to the ADF an upgraded Defence High Frequency Communications System (DHFCS) by the end of the decade, which will allow its forces to communicate regionally and globally, and partner with other long-range communications capabilities.
Providing an effective long-range communications capability for its land, sea and air assets is an important sovereign capability for the ADF. The DHFCS and its upgraded iteration will partner other long-range communications capabilities such as satellites, as well as providing a reliable capability in areas and times where satellite communications are challenged.
The agreement marks the companies’ partnership in responding to the Commonwealth of Australia’s JP9101 request for tender. Babcock Australasia’s Managing Director – Land, Graeme Nayler, said the agreement aligns the companies’ submission with the Department of Defence’s commitment to integration and collaboration, while delivering a robust and agile solution.
“Babcock and Lockheed Martin Australia are working together to partner with Defence, building on our track record of trusted delivery to the customer,” he said.
“We offer better value for money by drawing on our combined capability and capacity to deliver a sovereign solution that provides a performance edge to the Australian Defence Force.”
“We offer more than other vendors by providing more than just equipment. Our partnership delivers a unique combination of customer-centric, trusted service delivery together with a proven technological solution.”
In New Zealand, Babcock was recently awarded the contract to provide enhanced HF radio communications to the New Zealand Defence Force by 2023 together with a second contract to deliver through-life-support for the twenty years to follow.
In the UK, Babcock has provided a Defence High Frequency Communications Service to the UK Ministry of Defence for 18 years and is involved in potential HF service delivery to the United States and Canada when the opportunity arises in future, opening the possibility of serving all nations of the Five Eyes Alliance.
Lockheed Martin Australia’s Rotary and Mission Systems Business Development Director, Neale Prescott, said our partnership unites our vast breadth of experience and technical heritage in HF technologies to provide the right solution for the Australian Defence Force (ADF).
“Our collaboration ensures we will remain focused on delivering cutting edge HF technology solutions that are effective and interoperable and will ultimately best support the ADF’s critical missions” he said.
“Lockheed Martin Australia’s proven expertise in building, integrating and sustaining advanced technology systems across complex multi-domain platforms fused with Babcock’s global HF communications experience, means we are the natural partner of choice to deliver a capability edge to the ADF.”
Lockheed Martin and Babcock will face off against a partnership made up of Boeing Defence Australia and BAE, who announced in March they have submitted a tender response for JP 9101.
