Thought Leadership

By Byron Bright, KBR president, Mission Technology Solutions.

Last year when the Defence Department announced its decision not to progress with the procurement of a Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellite communications system, it signalled changes in Australia’s strategic circumstances and the capabilities required to defend and protect the nation. 

Increasing political tensions around the world, and particularly within the Indo-Pacific region, have reinforced how important it is that we’re connected and aligned with our allies to leverage and share our extensive experiences and capabilities. 

Technologies that can be accessed and operationalised quickly will help strengthen Australia’s national defence and security. Australia must balance the urgent acquisition of capabilities in an environment of escalating political tensions while developing and growing a highly skilled industry to manage, sustain and support those capabilities into the future. This is fundamental to ensuring preparedness of the ADF. 

History has demonstrated time and again how Australians punch above their weight when it comes to developing smart solutions and innovative technologies. Australia must continue to encourage local innovation, whether it’s through the bespoke integration of worldleading technologies into Defence platforms or the development of unique Australian-made solutions. 

KBR has six decades of building a comprehensive global space portfolio. From that extensive portfolio, our space domain awareness tool, Iron Stallion, is now being used by the Australian Space Command. It is a great example where technology, skills and knowledge can be shared. Importantly, this capability has been brought into service quickly and tailored to Australia’s requirements, reflecting the increased focus that many nations have on the Indo-Pacific region. 

Iron Stallion is a commandand- control technology that provided critical and timely information about the unexpected breakup of Intelsat 33, which helped ensure the protection of adjacent space assets. Its strength is allowing users to understand and make sense of the wide range of data sources by turning that data into actionable information to support superior decision making. 

When advanced technology is complemented with proven local capabilities, we not only see benefits for Australia, we will see the weight of trade change from Australia to allied nations. For example, the Australian KBR team is currently delivering cyber secure communications to the Royal Australian Navy and providing mission engineering capabilities that ensure the MQ-4C Triton aircraft can taxi, fly, conduct its mission and land safely.

Last year, the very best of Clearbox System’s capabilities were combined with KBR’s locally developed, world-leading Deployed ICT skills to provide Aggregated Monitoring and Control of Satellite Earth Stations. The team is now consolidating SATCOM systems, space domain awareness technologies and Space Control so that military commanders have more accurate and timely data and analysis with which to make decisions. These capabilities are niche and world leading and at the very forefront of evolving technologies. 

It’s this level of innovation and ingenuity that we need to continue to support and share with allied nations as we look to strengthen security in the region and elsewhere in the world. 

This article was originally published in The Australia: Avalon Air Show Special Report.