DMTC’s CEO and key Program 7 personnel including ADA’s Ian Crouch were today present at the official release of a case study into the success of the Diggerworks model at Parliament House in Canberra. The Minister for Defence Materiel, the Hon. Mike Kelly MP, and Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, the Hon. Warren Snowdon launched the case study, which outlined a number of key factors underpinning the success of the model.
The report, developed by Melbourne Business School business systems experts Danny Samson and Peter Cebon is available for download here.
Those present at the launch heard several examples of how the rapid development and acquisition processes delivered through Diggerworks has already contributed to an improvement in survivability and protection for Australia’s warfighters, and a significant increase in warfighter confidence in the protective equipment in the past 3 years.
DMTC is immensely proud of its role as a key partner in the Diggerworks model and congratulates all concerned on the success of the model to date. We look forward to further successes and continued, improved support to our front line personnel.
Posted by DMTC on June 27th, 2013
ADA is preparing to deliver another set of hard armour plates to DMO in the near future. These plates have been manufactured using ADA’s local manufacturing capability, which utilises the ceramic armour technology developed through the DMTC.
This delivery represents the largest production run that incorporates the new technology to date. DMTC is pleased to be continuing to work with ADA in this area and is delighted that ADA’s decision to include the technology in one of their product offerings has contributed to its acquisition. This is an important illustration of the benefit DMTC provides in improving Australian Defence capability and a strong example of the support provided to Defence’s Diggerworks organisation through the DMTC collaborative model.
Posted by DMTC on June 17th, 2013
Program 7 Project: Portable Power Generation recently achieved a major milestone with the development of a Field Fuel Cell (FFC). Working with DSTO and VCAMM, industry partner Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies designed and built a laboratory prototype FFC capable of producing 912Wh of energy. The FFC was developed to provide an in-field capability for charging the 24V batteries typical of those carried by ADF soldiers. On a 72 hour patrol, a soldier can carry up to 18 batteries weighing 65kg in total. The FFC can provide enough charging capacity to potentially reduce the battery weight burden for a 72 hour patrol by 45kg. Instead of storing hydrogen gas, the FFC utilises a liquid chemical feedstock from which hydrogen is extracted on the go, making it ideally suited for the rugged military environment.
Taras Wankewycz, Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies commented that, “We are very pleased to work with Australia’s DMTC on reducing the battery weight burden of the modern soldier. We are confident our solutions will help extend mission endurance and increase soldier safety, often limited by today’s battery capacities”.
Posted by DMTC on May 28th, 2013