At this year’s Paris Air Show, Thales presented for the first time its high-performance TopOwl Helmet Mounted Sight Display (HMSD) featuring augmented reality, a new capability further enhancing helicopter pilots situational awareness in difficult visibility conditions.

DSTO is helping advance an innovative power generation and harvesting system, as part of the Capability and Technology Demonstrator (CTD) Program.

Under Project Air 5440 the RAAF has bought into the joint user group approach to sustaining and expanding the C-130J Hercules operational capability with the OEM, Lockheed Martin, leading development.

Contenders for the ADF’s two pilot training contracts, Air 5428 and Air 9000 Ph.7 are still awaiting the draft RFTs promised earlier this year.

The introduction to service of HMNZS Canterbury hasn’t been trouble-free, but the Royal New Zealand Navy is getting closer to achieving the capability it (and now the RAN) wants.

South Australian Premier Mike Rann and Federal Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare have signed a land agreement that reaffirms Defence’s commitment to assemble the Navy’s Future Submarines in Adelaide.

One week after the Hawkei experience, Mercedes Benz Australia/Pacific took the opportunity at the same Anglesea test ground to show off its two contenders for the medium and heavy elements of Phase 3.

An Australian-developed sustainment software tool offers the prospect of significant savings in sustainment management for both new and legacy platforms and equipment.

Registrations opened last month for the Safeskies Australia 2011 conference, to be held at the Hyatt Hotel in Canberra on 25-27 October.

Dr Stephen Gumley made an abrupt departure from the Dept of Defence when he retired on 7 July as CEO of the Defence Materiel Organisation. His deputy, Warren King, will take up the position of Acting CEO and the position of CEO will be advertised in coming weeks.

The RAAF has taken the opportunity presented by the arrival of its new KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) to introduce a totally new training environment.

Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare used the D+I Conference to announce a range of procurement reform designed to increase opportunities for local firms to compete for Defence work.

Northrop Grumman Corporation has successfully participated in the 2011 Northern Edge joint military exercise in the US by demonstrating key F-35 Joint Strike Fighter sensor capabilities in a demanding operational environment.

Kim Gillis was appointed vice president and managing director of Boeing Defence Australia in June this year. Before joining Boeing Defence Space & Security in the US last year, he had been deputy CEO of the Defence Materiel Organisation.

The release last month of a tender for the Group Maintenance Contract (GMC) for the Navy’s eight Anzac-class frigates, along with the Rizzo Plan for support ship repair and management, is the trigger for an overhaul of Defence’s maritime sustainment arrangements.

A team at UNSW Canberra led by Associate Professor Hans Riesen has developed a radiation monitoring (dosimetry) system that is by far the most portable and lightest globally available to this date.