Land Engineering Agency maintains T&E focus

The creation of the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) has brought a long-established T&E specialist within its orbit.
All three armed services have their own technical and T&E authorities. For the Army this is the Land Engineering Agency (LEA) at Maribyrnong, which is now part of the Land Support Systems Branch (LSSB) of the DMO's Land Systems Division (LSD).

LEA provides the DMO with an integrated acquisition and through-life support for Land Capabilities. Systems engineering, logistics engineering, and specialist engineering services are applied across the capability life cycle to ensure the technical integrity of combat capability is attained and maintained at affordable cost. Development Test and Evaluation (DT&E) has been a cornerstone of the service LEA has provided for over 60 years.

LEA engineering staff are supported by Accredited Test Services (ATS) in meeting the requirements of Systems Program Offices (SPOs) within DMO. ATS is the successful In-House-Option for the provision of Test Services to LEA.

Several recent changes have led to an improved delivery of support to the SPOs. LEA has undertaken a Performance Improvement Cycle process with a subsequent restructuring of its core engineering processes. As part of the change of emphasis it has moved its engineering activities into new accommodation in the Defence Plaza Melbourne. It has refocussed its capabilities to those of the Battlespace Operating Systems of Manoeuvre; Fire Support; Command, Control and Communications; and Surveillance, Reconnaissance, Intelligence and Information Warfare to ensure it provides engineering expertise across all aspects involved in the introduction and support of a Defence capability.

It has also announced the success of the in-house bid in the market testing activity for provision of test services. ATS succeeded in winning in open competition by providing the best value for money solution, based on technical merit and cost. ATS offered an ISO 9002 quality certified organisation complete with all of the NATA (National Association of Testing Authorities) test accreditations required by LEA along with a team of technical and engineering staff with vast experience in the DT&E of military hardware.

The successful integration of a restructured and refocussed LEA and an efficient, cost effective, skilled and experienced test services provider will see LEA meet its objective of being a best practice provider of DT&E to DMO, senior LEA officials say.

The ATS headquarters is at Maribyrnong where its Mechanical Environmental Laboratory (MEL) and E3/EO/Comms Laboratory (EECL) are located. The ATS Automotive and Electrical Performance Laboratory (AEPL) is situated at the LEA Proving Ground, Monegeetta, 56 kms north west of Melbourne. ATS test services are available to other government departments and industry on a commercial basis provided that the test resources are not required for defence testing and there is no conflict of interest.

The ATS facilities include an extensive array of sophisticated test equipment. Coupled with a technical and engineering staff with long and broad experience in the test and evaluation of military hardware ATS provides LEA with a T&E service it believes is unequalled in Australia.

ATS provides test services in the fields of Mechanical, Environmental, Vehicle, Electrical Power, Electromagnetic Environmental Effects (E3), Electro-optics (EO), and Communications testing. Testing includes the whole range of fielded military hardware including: vehicles, plant, field power generators, weapons, image intensifier and thermal surveillance systems, communications equipment and soldier support systems. Investigations are conducted under natural and induced environments, to simulate service conditions and test the performance, efficiency and durability of components, assemblies and complete systems.

Each of the ATS laboratories holds a number of NATA test accreditations and ATS staff are actively involved as NATA assessors, assisting NATA in evaluating the technical performance of test laboratories across Australia.

The MEL provides climatic testing with a range of environmental test chambers, some of which can accommodate A & B vehicles, and offering high and low temperatures, high humidity, salt spray/fog, driving rain and dust environments; a tensile and hardness test capability and vibration platforms for loads up to 5 tonnes. Its measurement capability includes pressure, displacement, force, strain, velocity, sound level, gas toxicity, temperature and humidity. Tests are performed to Australian and International standards as required.

The EECL has several electromagnetically screened enclosures for E3 testing. The largest of these will accommodate a Leopard tank and is equipped with an exhaust system to enable testing while a vehicle is operating. E3 testing includes: EMC testing (Electro-magnetic Compatibility) and includes both radiated and conducted emissions and susceptibility tests; RADHAZ (radiated hazards) and TEMPEST tests. Most EMC and TEMPEST testing is to Australian, US and UK MIL-standards.

The EECL also has an electro-optic test capability that includes Field of View, Magnification; Distortion and Eye Relief measurement. System Resolution measurement of II devices and Minimum Resolvable Temperature Difference measurement on thermal devices are supported. An extensive array of communications test equipment facilitates the characterisation of communications system performance. Communications measurements include: signal to noise; intelligibility; RF power; RF Spectral Analysis and modulation characteristics; Frequency accuracy; VSWR/Return Loss; Receiver sensitivity; antenna pattern, gain and impedance and Ionospheric channel simulation.

The AEPL provides a wide range of vehicle, engine and generator test capabilities. The vehicle test capability includes first and second class roads, cross country course, deep and shallow fording pools, sand and mud pits, grassed side slopes, tilt table, concrete and earth gradients, braking strip, random ride circuit and vehicle handling test circuit. A data acquisition and analysis capability supports vehicle trials in the measurement and post-test analysis of durability, braking, vehicle handling and noise. The AEPL also provides an engine endurance test facility and generator test capability as well as a comprehensive workshop to support vehicle trials.

These facilities have been heavily used recently in the evaluation of contenders for Army's Bushranger IMV project and the development of improved roll-over protection and vehicle mobility models for ADF tactical vehicles.

By Ian Ashworth, Maribyrnong