Equipping our land forces with ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) capabilities that meet their situational awareness needs in such insecure and mercurial environments as Afghanistan, is an unending and costly task.

It is one thing to acquire state-of-the-art communications equipment - being able to operate it is another matter altogether.

The take-up of tactical data links, such as Link-16, is only now gaining momentum as new platforms come on line and legacy Link-11 systems are upgraded or augmented.

The successful installation on HMAS Melbourne of an Internet Protocol-based Maritime Tactical Wide Area network (MTWAN) represents an important building block in upgrading the RAN's maritime communications to support the ADF's Network Centric Warfare (NCW) roadmap.

The Unmanned Airborne Vehicle (UAV) Challenge - Outback Rescue 2009 event brought industry, academia, and the best of the next generation of UAV technologists to Kingaroy, Queensland, for four days at the end of September.

Human security has implications for government, the ADF and defence industry.

The Tiger ARH project has reached a critical milestone, with Greg Combet, Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science announcing that the chopper had reached the Initial Operational Test and Evaluation Readiness milestone recently.

Helisim inaugurated its first NH90 flight simulator at the training center in Marignane where it will be used to train military helicopter pilots.

Tectonica Australia Pty Ltd has been appointed the exclusive distributor in the Australian and New Zealand Defence market for the Electrics business of Ultra Electronics.

The $8 billion Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) project is progressing well and will commence hull construction in the next few months, Greg Combet, Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science announced during a visit to Adelaide to inspect the progress of the project.

C4i recently commissioned its 400th secure Red/Black Air Defence operator position for a NATO customer.

SEA 1390 Phase 2.1, the project to upgrade the Adelaide Class Frigates (FFG) is now a step closer to its conclusion with the contractual acceptance of HMAS Newcastle, the fourth and final FFG to undergo the upgrade program with Thales Australia, three months ahead of schedule.

Boeing Defence Australia has announced the successful introduction into service of its Modernised High Frequency Communication System (MHFCS) for Australian Defence Force (ADF) operations.

Australian Aerospace's growing industrial footprint has expanded to Sydney's southwest with the official opening of a large warehouse complex designed to support the MRH90.

Chandler Macleod has announced that it no longer wants to run Defence Force Recruiting (DFR) after losing close to $6 million on the project.

Phase 2 of Project Echidna (Air 5416) has been reduced in scope, according to an announcement from Greg Combet, Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science.