Boeing’s Currawong to power AIR6500 communications

Brisbane-based Boeing Defence Australia has signed a contract with Lockheed Martin Australia to deliver the deployed communications elements of the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) next generation Joint Air Battle Management System (JABMS) under Project AIR6500.

Drawing on the technology developed for the Currawong Battlespace Communications System, Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) will deliver hardware and software for voice and data services for the JABMS command and control system.

BDA’s distributed network system is already operating in-service with the ADF. It includes multiple transmission options, from Wideband Global Satellite to fibre to public networks, combined with system management and networking software, to deliver high-quality, uninterrupted communications services and unprecedented levels of awareness and control.

Boeing Defence Australia already has a team of people embedded within Lockheed Martin Australia who have been undertaking preliminary works to support speed to capability.

“This subcontract further cements our position as an industry-leading developer of deployable communications systems and demonstrates the value that defence industry partnerships bring to solving the ADF’s complex problems,” said Murray Brabrook, BDA Joint Systems director.

The BDA engineers hit the ground running, said Ms Kendell Kuczma, Lockheed Mnartin Australia’s International Business Development Director for Rotary and Missions Systems said, “The team has embraced the agile architecture of AIR6500 by leveraging the backbone of the Currawong Battlespace Communications technology and advancing it to provide an efficient and accelerated path to capability for the ADF.”

BDA launched its Battlespace Communications Systems Enterprise last year in recognition that the proven networking and communications technology developed for Currawong had application across land, maritime, air, space and cyber domains and could play a vital role in future joint command and control systems.

“We have already implemented components of the system across multiple platforms, including Army vehicles,” Brabrook said.