Raytheon Australia has selected Pacific Defense, a US-based open systems integrator delivering Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) products and mission solutions, to deliver force-level Electronic Warfare (EW) systems for Australia’s Land 555 Phase 6 program.
The Land 555 Phase 6 EW upgrade (Tranche 2) was announced by Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy in July.
"Raytheon Australia has been contracted to deliver to Army a Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicle-Medium based Force Level Electronic Warfare capability under Tranche 2 of the Land 555 Phase 6 project. This project builds on the Tranche 1 delivery of additional electronic warfare systems, and facilities already supplied to Army through Land 555 Phase 6 Tranche 1," a Defence spokesperson said.
"The contract (which consists of two parts) has been awarded to Raytheon Australia to provide the Land Electronic Warfare capability that will complement existing systems and enhance the ability to deter, defeat and deny attacks and threats.
"The capability is anticipated to be delivered in late 2025 and will provide the Army with a Force Level electronic warfare capability to be interoperable with joint and coalition partner electronic warfare systems.
"Land 555 Phase 6 will deliver Electronic Support and Electronic Attack capabilities mounted on the Bushmaster platform: in addition to Electronic Support and Electronic Attack, Land 555 Ph 6 is delivering a dedicated Command and Control capability, to better coordinate EW effects on the battlefield.
"Army receives Electronic Warfare products and specialist support from the local subsidiaries of major international defence firms."
Minister Conroy said at the time of the announcement that Australian industry would be involved in supply, training and maintenance support.
“The Project will inject more than $46 million into Australian industry, contributing to strengthening our sovereign defence industrial base, supporting delivery of multiple Sovereign Industrial Capability Priorities and growing the skills of our local workforce,” Minister Conroy said.
The new EW systems will be fitted to Bushmaster vehicles and will be interoperable with EW systems acquired by the RAAF, RAN, and other members of the Five Eyes community including the US Army.
The chassis-based EW systems will include an array of plug-in cards and mission software, including wideband Software Defined Radios (SDR) and EW application software, enabling electronic support (ES) for signal detection and electronic attack (EA) jamming techniques.
“Our company is at the forefront of advanced multi-function radio frequency (MFRF) mission solutions fully aligned with CMOSS and SOSA technical standards,” said Frank Pietryka, VP at Pacific Defense. "Our industry leading focus on CMOSS mission system integration, along with modular plug-in card and software development, has positioned us to deliver on the Land 555 mission requirement.”