Australia to procure C-UASs under Land 156 project
The Australian DoD is acquiring DroneShield's DroneGun Mk4 (pictured) and RfPatrol, as well as a range of C-UASs from other companies under the Land 156 project, to bolster defence against hostile UAVs. (DroneShield)
The Australian Department of Defence (DoD) is procuring a range of counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UASs) and associated technologies under contracts with a combined worth of AUD16.9 million (USD11.1 million) awarded to 11 companies.
These contracts have been awarded as part of the DoD's Land 156 project, which aims to deliver a comprehensive, layered, and distributed C-UAS capability to the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to detect, track, identify, and neutralise small hostile unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the DoD announced on 24 July.
Five of the 11 companies that have secured these contracts are domestic companies, the DoD said. Australia's Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said on 24 July that one of these domestic companies is DroneShield.
While the DoD did not disclose the names of the other 10 companies, an Australian media report said these companies are Axon Public Safety Australia, CACI, EPE, HIFraser, HighCom Technology, KeyOptions, Pioneer Computers Dream Industrial, Precision Technic Defence, SouthTech Systems, and Steelrock Technologies. The DoD had not responded to Janes request to confirm this information at the time of publication.
The DoD said it will be procuring around 120 threat detectors and other technologies for defence against hostile UAVs. The DoD added that it plans to announce more contracts over the coming months to procure additional sensors and efforts to counter UAVs and to deliver a command-and-control (C2) capability to the ADF to manage all the C-UASs and associated technologies.
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