Boeing to apply local communications systems to defence

Boeing has signed a contract with Lockheed Martin Australia to deliver the deployed communications elements of the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) next generation Joint Air Battle Management System (JABMS) under project AIR6500.

Drawing on the technology developed for the Currawong Battlespace Communications System, Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) will deliver hardware and software for voice and data services for the JABMS command and control system.

BDA’s distributed network system is already operating in-service with the ADF delivering high-quality, uninterrupted communications services.

BDA launched its Battlespace Communications Systems Enterprise in Australia in 2023 to further develop the networking and communications technology developed for Currawong in application across land, maritime, air, space and cyber domains.

BDA Joint Systems director Murray Brabrook said: “We have already implemented components of the system across multiple platforms, including Army vehicles.”

BDA has a team of people embedded within Lockheed Martin Australia’s business who have been undertaking preliminary works.

Brabrook said: “Working collaboratively across industry ensures we achieve what matters most – connecting and protecting the warfighter and doing this more quickly than one organisation could do in isolation.”

Lockheed Martin Australia and New Zealand’s Kendell Kuczma, International Business Development Director for Rotary and Missions Systems welcomed the opportunity to integrate communication technologies into AIR6500.

Kuczma said: “As we progress, Lockheed Martin Australia is committed to leveraging the full might of Australian industry to build a transformational capability, underpinned by best-of-breed sovereign technologies, that can be trusted to defend Australia and its national interests now and in the future.”

Picture: Boeing/Lockheed Martin Australia and New Zealand’s Kendell Kuczma, and Boeing Defence Australia’s Murray Brabrook.