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Australia target drone tender to be issued in October
Australia will release a formal request for tender in October for its Joint Project 66 phase 1 air defence target system requirement, with planning calling for services to be available from the first half of 2011.
The Australian Defence Material Organisation confirmed 20 July that the open tender process will be predicated in a single prime contractor meeting the full training spectrum but says budget requirements remain close to forecasts anticipated since 2006.
Australia’s new defence capability plan for 2009-2014, issued last month, forecasts JP 66 will cost between A$100 million (US$81.4 million) and A$500 million (US$407 million). The previous defence capability plan, issued in 2006, suggested a price tag of between A$20 million (US$16.3 million) and A$30 million (US$24.5 million).
The DMO says the change does not indicate an overall budget increase for the requirement. Rather, the new projections should be understood “purely a result of the way the DCP captured project estimates. The previous public DCP figure did not accurately reflect estimates of total contract and associated costs due to the minimal capital expenditure associated with a service provision contract.”
The DMO also says that “DCP entries are calculated in part from estimated capital expenditure. In the case of a project acquiring capability through a services contract the public DCP may not reflect total capability or project cost.”
The JP 66 services requirement has an anticipated lifespan of ten years. The DMO released an open request for information for the requirement in March this year. That RFI identified requirements for a suite of training capabilities to emulate multiple missile threats, with solutions expected to include tow targets and several different types of target drones.
The new DCP indicates that the Australian government approvals process for JP 66 will occur over the course of FY 2010-11 and FY 2011-12, rather than between 2008 and 2011 as proposed by the 2006 DCP plan. However the DMO says that the changes in dates do not represent delays. It says the new timeframes are “entirely in line with previous advice.”
The new DCP proposes achievement of an initial operational capability (IOC) between 2012 and 2014, whereas the 2006 DCP plan proposed an IOC between 2009 and 2011.
The DMO now says that “the formal project definition of IOC is yet to be confirmed, but may be declared following an establishment period of the target service contract rather than during this period. The expectation is that target services will commence in the first half of the 2011 calendar year.”
It also says that emerging training requirements for new Australian air defence platforms such as new navy air warfare destroyers, Boeing Super Hornet fighters and a proposed fleet of Lockheed martin F-35 joint strike fighters have already been fully integrated into the scope of the project.
“All these projects were known at RFI time and no significant change to requirements has occurred. The required date of commencement of certain target presentations may be influenced by the in-service dates of particular platforms.”
By Peter La Franchi, Canberra
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