Petroleum Operators from 17th Sustainment Brigade, 7 Brigade, and 3 Brigade participated in a series of activities at Cowley Beach Training Area, Queensland from September 27 to November 21, 2021.
Exercise Overland Nautical Petros 2021 aimed to qualify operators from Support Battalions on a suite of trade courses and petrol operations field craft. This included the Towed Flexible Barge System, Beach Storage Area, Inland Pipeline Distribution System and Bulk Fuel Installation training.
The exercise also served as the tender evaluation for Joint Project 8190 - the Deployable Bulk Fuel Distribution project. The project will deliver a capability to store and distribute sufficient fuel to sustain the land component of a deployed Joint Task Force.
The Joint Force continues to improve its lethality and move to more capable platforms that have a greater demand on fuel. Deployed Joint Force missions, from high-end war fighting to humanitarian assistance, increasingly rely on the independent provision of fuel.
The Government has committed, through the Defence Strategic Update 2020, to improve fuel resilience and capacity.
Elements of the in-service bulk fuel capability delivered by the project’s predecessor (JP 2059-3) are reportedly reaching life of type or are obsolescent with decreasing availability. Current deployable bulk fuel capability is operator intensive, has limited pollution control equipment, lacks waste management systems, and lacks the ability to accurately, remotely monitor fuel holdings. This limits the Joint Force’s ability to support large-scale independent operations in the immediate region.
Australian Industry Capability (AIC) is expected to provide major systems and components of JP8190 with the provision of sustainment and training services. This will provide industry with opportunities throughout the life of the system.