Project Sea 1442 is the mechanism by which Defence is networking the Navy’s surface fleet with a new architecture of IP-based wide area networks and a new generations of communications bearers. Phase 3 is already successfully under way with 2nd Pass Approval for Phase 4 due next year.

CAE Australia has upgraded the RAAF’s C-130J Hercules full-flight and mission simulator (FFMS) at Richmond to provide additional tactical training capabilities. The upgrade was completed on budget and without taking the simulator out of service.

BAE Systems Australia has delivered two more keel blocks for the first Hobart-class Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD). The two blocks were barged to the ASC yard at Osborne, SA, from Williamstown in September; the first block was delivered from Williamstown the previous month.

Raytheon Australia has finessed itself into a strong position to bid for prime contractorship on the ADF’s Helicopter Aircrew Training System (HATS) project. Its securing of the second HMI contract will help it introduce the bell 429 to the ADF which will be the type’s first military customer.

The NZ Defence Force is replacing or upgrading key parts of its small arms fleet. The costs are under control but delays highlight the importance of a properly manned project office.

Brisbane-based telecommunications specialist EM Solutions was awarded a CTD contract to develop a Satcom on-themove terminal suitable for WGS operations – and succeeded.

There are no silver bullet solutions to the cyber threat. There need to be flexible approaches that evolve with the threat.

Cyber security represents a set of policy issues, not a single issue, with a graduating scale of threats and vulnerabilities across the private and public sectors. So how do Government and the private sector share the load?

Army’s new Battle Management System, supplied by Elbit under Project Land 200, has proven to be a game-changer on its first exercise deployment and roll-out may be accelerated.

The first P-8I aircraft for the Indian Navy has made its maiden flight from Boeing’s Renton Field in Seattle. The P-8I is the first of eight long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft Boeing is building for India as part of a contract awarded in January 2009. An option for four additional P-8I aircraft was included in the original contract.

Pennsylvania firm Alloy Surfaces Company, Inc., a subsidiary of the UK’s Chemring Group PLC, has won a US$6.9 million RAAF contract to supply BOL IR and MJU-50/B Special Material Decoys (SMD) for the F/A-18A/B Hornet.

The ADM Cyber Security Summit in Canberra earlier this year threw a light on several security and policy issues. Specialist IT writer John Hilvert attended the summit and explores some of these themes in more detail.

USNS Spearhead, the first of the US Navy’s Joint High-Speed Vessels (JHSV) designed for rapid intra-theater transport of troops and military equipment, was christened in September during a ceremony at the Austal USA yard where she was built in Mobile, Alabama.

The Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare, has congratulated Australia’s F1 in Schools world champions – the PentaGliders from Brooks High School in Tasmania.

Rear Admiral (Ret) Brian Adams, AO, spent 37 years in the RAN, much of that time as a specialist in Joint and Amphibious warfare and some of it instructing, both in Australia and the UK. He spoke to Editor at Large Gregor Ferguson.

Airbus Military Chief Domingo Ureña-Raso has urged the Australian government to mount a genuine competition in Project Air 8000 Ph.2.