To the casual observer, Talisman Sabre exercises are all about amphibious warfare, a perception no doubt fuelled by pictures and television footage of US Marines storming ashore at Shoalwater Bay, or of massed US Army parachute insertions, or perhaps Australian Army Abrams tanks and ASLAVs on operations in thick bushland.

The BAE Systems-EXPAL relationship in jointly pursuing the Domestic Munitions Manufacturing Arrangements (DMMA) project is a good example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, although in this instance little is known about one of those parts.

Despite the drawdown of Australian forces from Afghanistan, the 2013 Federal Budget promises ‘no adverse implications’ for equipment used on deployment and the protection of soldiers remains one of Defence’s highest priorities.

Continuing enhancement of the ADF’s surveillance capabilities in the land domain, in recent years largely driven by urgent operational requirements, can be expected to remain a high priority within the Defence Capability Plan despite the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The Australian Army’s decades-old 81mm mortars are nearing replacement, and it appears to be a foregone conclusion that their successor will be the US-manufactured M252AI weapon now entering service with the US Army and US Marine Corps.

This is not a tongue twister but our take on how a fairly straightforward approach to industry for the supply and support of a Lightweight Automatic Grenade Launcher (LWAGL) came unstuck, leaving infantry with a serious gap in direct fire capability.

The German army’s (Bundeswehr’s) Future Soldier program has moved from concept to operational reality, with the first battalion taskforce to be equipped with the cutting-edge IdZ-ES (Infanterist der Zukunft Erweitertes) Gladius system deploying to Afghanistan in June.

At a time in which many defence sector SMEs are being savaged by budget cuts and the high Australian dollar, one flourishing Sydney-based company is expanding its international customer base and continues to derive the majority of its revenue from export orders.

Army’s biggest current program under the various phases of Land 121 Overlander is a mixed bag in terms of where the various phases stand. Phase 3 has been split into Alpha of G-Wagon with trailers and modules; and Bravo with medium-weight, medium, and heavy (4x4, 6x6, 8x8 respectively) trucks, an array of varied tractors and semitrailers, recovery trucks, integrated load handling systems, bulk liquid fuel and water and a range of modules that now are supplemented by Phase 5 vehicles. Phase 4 with the Hawkei continues testing.

Australian troops participating with US forces in Exercise Talisman Sabre 2013 later this year will benefit from an unsung but refreshingly efficient operation in which Army’s deployable instrumented live simulation training system was upgraded and its capacity nearly tripled within a demanding timeframe.

When the Operational Test and Evaluation phase of Army’s Shadow 200 Tactical Unmanned Aerial System highlighted the need for a system to archive video footage and other data received from the air vehicle, Australian industry and Defence stepped to the fore.

The Weapons Training Simulation System (commonly known as the WTSS) has been in place with the ADF since 1999. Since that time, the system has undergone a number of enhancements and the number of lanes available has expanded throughout bases all over the nation.

Defence reports that both training and the rollout of the individual soldier’s version of the Army’s new battle management system is progressing well, as is the installation of the mounted version into vehicles.

This might be a courageous call but it seems Defence has finally cracked the near impossible task of acquiring and issuing kit which soldiers find wholly satisfactory. Gone seem to be the days when soldiers derided at least some items of their equipment, most often boots and webbing, as complete crap.

Maintaining armoured vehicles in Afghanistan is, needless to say, a different proposition to running the family sedan down to the local garage for its regular service.

Last month, media gathered at RAAF Base Amberley for a day of instruction and subsequent driving of the new Mercedes Benz G-Wagons, being purchased by Army under Project Overlander, Land 121 (a detailed history of Land 121 is available on our website’s archives search).