News Review: ADM Top 20 SME primes GTESPO project | ADM Mar 2010
114MCRU has recently returned from a very successful tour in Afghanistan, based at Kandahar Airfield with the mission to provide air battle space management throughout that area of operations.
Following a two-year deployment in Afghanistan and previous tours in East Timor, the unit has been handed to Daronmont for much needed mechanical repairs to the cabins as well as a refresh of data processing, display and voice switching systems.
Daronmont won a competitive tender from the DMO's Ground Telecommunication Equipment Systems Program Office, with the $15 million plus deal awarded in December 2009.
The contract encompasses cabin refurbishment, replacement of the voice switching system, updating the data processing systems to the latest operational build, console and display replacement and system integration.
Beyond the project phase, a five-year support contract with optional extensions is also envisioned.
Daronmont has established a first class Australian industry team to refurbish this critical Air Force capability - including BAE Systems, C4i, Sage Automation and other niche service providers.
The majority of the work will be delivered in Adelaide and Sydney with the unit being handed back to the RAAF fully operational in the first quarter of 2011.
BAE Systems will undertake refurbishment of the Communications Cabin and deliver the ILS aspects of the refurbishment project.
C4i are replacing the voice switching system and Sage is providing the electrical and data cabling fit out support for the remaining six cabins.
Daronmont will update the tracking and correlation data processing system and refurbish the remaining cabins (Operator, Link and Technical Interface) as well as providing overall prime system integration and project and engineering management.
Daronmont will also be significantly redesigning the internal layout of the Operations Cabins in consultation with RAAF air defence operators to reflect the lessons learnt on deployment in Afghanistan.
"This project is an exciting opportunity for our engineers and our partners to contribute to an important operational ADF capability and we are very focussed on getting the unit back to operational readiness on time and within budget," Ben Norris, Daronmont Technologies GM said.
"We feel very confident to deliver this capability as we have been successfully supporting the fixed air defence system in Australia for many years and 114MCRU whilst on deployment in the Middle East. "
In awarding this contract to the Daronmont team DMO has provided a significant boost to Australian Defence industry, and particularly SMEs in the Electronic Systems sector with SMEs involved in all aspects of design, manufacture, test, integration and support.
"The GTESPO team within DMO has worked hard to build a relationship with industry based on trust and commitment to the operational end user," Norris said.