• The new building in Brisbane will be able to network with other sites and industry partners. Credit: ADM Davis Jones
    The new building in Brisbane will be able to network with other sites and industry partners. Credit: ADM Davis Jones
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A high profile line up of Defence leadership gathered at the new Harris Defence Australia headquarters in Brisbane yesterday to witness the formal opening of the building by Minister for Defence Marise Payne and CASG Deputy Secretary Kim Gillis.

Chief of Army Lieutenant General Angus Campbell was also present along with CASG assistant secretary (Communications Systems) Myra Sefton and a whole host of industry executives from the likes of Boeing Defence Australia and Airbus Group Australia Pacific.

Minister Payne said Harris’ new state-of-the-art headquarters building will be fundamental to the execution of Army’s Battlefield Management System, an important new capability for the ADF.
 
“The headquarters will enable Harris to expand further into prototyping systems integration and assurance, which is essential to modern ADF missions,” Minister Payne said. 

“There are now about 20,000 Harris radios in service across land, sea and air platforms in the ADF, ensuring they have the cutting-edge capability they need to keep our nation safe and secure.
 
“The Tactical Communications Network will provide fast, accurate, secure and reliable digital communications that will enable our forces to make better informed decisions faster, by distributing the right information to the right people at the right time, increasing the likelihood of success on the battlefield.
 
“I congratulate Harris on their excellent support to delivering new capability to the ADF as we digitise the battlefield,” she said.

Harris MD Alan Callaghan with Minister Payne and other dignitiaries from Army and Harris Corporation at the opening event. Credit: ADM David Jones
Harris MD Alan Callaghan with Minister Payne and other dignitiaries from Army and Harris Corporation at the opening event. Credit: ADM David Jones

Harris Defence Australia MD Alan Callaghan told the audience, which included ADM, that the building was ISO 9001 certified, with a surface area of about 2300 square metres, about a fifth of the size of the company's 10,000 square metre facility at Pinkenbah in Brisbane.

“We were very lucky with this building because we got to design it right from the beginning; we've established in there a very extensive software development environment. We've also mirrored a systems integration laboratory - a network integration laboratory.”

He said the building is being networked with the Pinkenbah facility as well as with its partner for Tranche 2 of Land 200, Boeing Defence Australia.

“We'll also network with our friends at DST Group; what we'll have once completed is a very comprehensive network where the Commonwealth and industry can work together to design, develop, integrate and test the network improvements we'll be bringing in over time.

Callaghan added all this would be performed in real time, and 24/7. 

"This building will be applicable to whole bunch of different activities; with the construct, the people and the relationships we should be able to attack other technologies and other wants and needs of the ADF, including in the geospatial, EW and of course night vision realms." 

"We'll do our part, along with others, to make South East Queensland the Silicon Valley of networking technology.”

 

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