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Defence Minister Christopher Pyne and Minister for Defence Industry Steven Ciobo announced Leidos Australia as the prime system integrator to deliver the first tranche of Joint Project 2096 Phase 1.
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Defence has approved $500 million for the acquisition and sustainment of the first tranche of Joint Project 2096, which will ensure the integration of selected intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) data and applications.
Minister Pyne said the project was critical to enhancing the security of Australians at home and abroad, "This project will allow intelligence analysts to rapidly search and discover collected data to improve intelligence and decision support to Australian Defence Force and whole-of-government decision makers."
This first tranche will integrate selected ISR data and applications, provide an ISR search and discovery capability, deliver an ISR development and support centre, and sustain the ISR integration capability throughout its life.
"The project will help deliver on the government’s commitment to improve the situational awareness, mission planning and warfighting capabilities of the ADF as outlined in the 2016 Defence White Paper," Minister Pyne added.
Minister Ciobo said the project supported the government's defence industry engagement strategy by providing Australian industry with opportunities in development and integration services, data analytics, ICT support, and the provision of supporting infrastructure, and addition of 65 new jobs for the ISR Development and Support Centre.
"Leidos has a proven track record of delivering integrated data solutions, and will ensure around $450 million is spent in Australia," Minister Ciobo added.
Christine Zeitz, Leidos Australia Chief Executive welcomed the government's announcement, saying, "The Leidos solution will be instrumental in providing commanders from tactical to strategic levels with the necessary tools and intelligence to make accurate and time-critical decisions. This will help ensure ISR resources will be optimized and intelligence analysts can focus more effectively on what matters most."
"As the prime system integrator for this project, Leidos will establish a team of more than 65 people in Melbourne. The program builds on the company’s local experience having successfully delivered multiple C4ISR programs over the past 15 years to our Defence customer," Zeitz added.
JP 2096 is broken into two distinct phases: Phase 1 and Phase 2, with different capability objectives. Phase 1 will provide infrastructure and functionality to the Defence Secret Network (DSN) to create a unified dataset that enables users to effectively manage ISR information and intelligence.
JP 2096 Phase 1 focuses on the design and development of an architecture that will provide networked access to the growing volumes of data sourced from multiple surveillance sensors available to the Australian Defence Organisation (ADO), and facilitate the related information management (including search, tasking and dissemination) of the sensor outputs. Phase 1 will also provide an ISR integration capability, key ISR services and integration of legacy ISR capabilities.
Phase 2 will extend the capability provided by Phase 1 in response to ADO ISR capability requirements and priorities. The extension of the ADIIB capability under Phase 2 will also include the continued integration of legacy capabilities, the provision of key ISR services, and the application of the architecture to other physical or security domains.
