Dr Mark Hodge, CEO of the Defence Materials Technology Centre (DMTC) will showcase innovation in defence industry at the Australian Defence Magazine Congress on 24 February 2010.
DMTC develops new materials and manufacturing technologies across air platforms, maritime platforms, propulsion systems and armour applications to enhance the future operations, readiness and sustainment of the Australian Defence Force.
Dr Hodge’s presentation will be one of five case studies highlighting innovation in defence industry in a morning session to be held on day two of the Congress.
The annual Australian Defence Magazine Congress has evolved into a pivotal event in the Defence calendar, bringing together senior officials from all areas of the Australian Defence Force, Defence Materiel Organisation and defence industry.
Attracting over 250 delegates each year, ADM2010 will once more provide a valuable channel for communication between the players shaping the future of Australia’s defence and industry environment.
Key stakeholders will have the opportunity to meet, share views and experiences and develop strategies for better collaboration, for the benefit of those in the field.
The Australian Defence Magazine Congress will be held at the Hyatt Hotel Canberra from 23 to 24 February 2010.
Click here to register your attendance at the conference.
Posted by DMTC on November 16th, 2009 A seminar on studies of corrosion with synchrotron x-rays will be held tomorrow at Swinburne University of Technology’s Hawthorn Campus in Melbourne at 4pm.
The seminar will be presented by Dr Alison Davenport, who is a Reader in Corrosion Science at the School of Metallurgy and Materials, University of Birmingham, UK in room EN101 in the Engineering building (on Thursday, 12 November 2009).
It is part of a seminar series organised by the Defence Materials Technology Centre (DMTC) as an initiative of its Education Program.
Dr Davenport obtained a BA and PhD in Metallurgy and Materials at the University of Cambridge, and then went to Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA, where she used synchrotron radiation techniques to study passive films in situ.
After a brief spell at the University of Manchester, she moved to Birmingham, where she pursues research in two main areas: the effect of microstructure on localised corrosion, with particular interest in aluminium alloys (including friction stir welding of aerospace and marine alloys), and synchrotron x-ray methods for the study of localised corrosion, including imaging (fast radiography and tomography), spectroscopy and diffraction, investigating stainless steel, aluminium and magnesium.
Posted by DMTC on November 11th, 2009 DMTC Core Participant BAE Systems has been selected to provide a range of Air Traffic Control operational maintenance services to the Australian Defence Force (ADF).
Greg Combet, Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science, said that under the contract, BAE Systems will conduct operational maintenance for Air Traffic Control equipment and simulators at two ADF airfields – Oakey (Queensland) and East Sale (Victoria).
“This new contract rationalises operational maintenance services for the Air Traffic Control equipment into a single and flexible performance based arrangement,” said Mr Combet.
“This new contract model and arrangement will help simplify support arrangements and deliver efficiencies.”
The contract is a five-year performance based contract valued initially at AUD $6.4 million.
The new contract was signed at the Ground Telecommunications Equipment Systems Program Office at RAAF Williamtown and comes into effect in January 2010.
Posted by DMTC on November 11th, 2009 Thales has successfully showcased its Infra-Red (IR) Warner technology, demonstrating the company’s ability to develop innovative solutions for the Australian Defence Force.
The IR Warner System detects the discharge of weapons through IR sensing, and displays this information to alert the operator about the presence and location of an adversary.
The system is intended to be fitted to vehicles and integrated with vehicle-mounted weapons and countermeasures systems to provide an effective self-defence capability against hostile fire.
It is being developed in partnership with the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO), under the Department of Defence’s Capability Technology Demonstrator (CTD) program.
“Field trial results for the IR Warner System were outstanding, and have exceeded expectations,” said Ian Irving, VP, in charge of Thales’s Land & Joint Systems activities in Australia.
“The IR Warner System successfully detected all threats presented during the trials,including some very challenging threats that have been difficult to detect using previous hostile fire indicator systems.”
Following the success of this CTD, the Commonwealth has invited Thales to submit a proposal under the CTD extension program to explore the potential adaptation of the IR Warner System for ADF aircraft operations.
“We look forward to continuing the excellent relationship with DSTO established under this CTD to further develop ADF capabilities for hostile fire detection and situational awareness,” Mr Irving said.
The hostile fire indicator capability for the IR Warner System is provided by the Thales Elix-IR threat warner. This has been developed for airborne applications as part of the UK Ministry of Defence’s Technical Development Program.
One of the objectives of the Australian IR Warner CTD was to demonstrate the performance of Elix-IR in complex warfighting environments, while another was to demonstrate that networking the IR Warner System between vehicles and existing ADF command and support systems can enhance the ADF’s force protection capability.
“The trial results show Thales’s ability to reach back for global technology transfer,” Mr Irving continued. “As a worldwide company with a vast product range, we are well-placed to offer a valuable combination of national and international innovation and expertise.”
The final stage of the CTD involved four weeks of field trials at Thales’s Australian Soldier Systems Development and Support Centre at Lithgow, NSW, and the Commonwealth’s Proof and Experimental Establishment facility at Graytown, Victoria. In these trials, the IR Warner System was tested against a variety of weapon types likely to be encountered by ADF land forces.
During the trials, Thales also successfully demonstrated the shared situational awareness generated by the IR Warner System in combination with Thales Australia’s Portable Situational Awareness and Moving Map System (PSAMMS).
This provided the ability to share situational awareness between vehicles fitted with the IR Warner System regarding the presence, location and disposition of adversary forces detected by Elix-IR. The integration of Elix-IR with PSAMMS, and the networking of PSAMMS using standard military messaging protocols, was achieved without any technical complications.
Thales (Australia) is a Core Participant of the Defence Materials Technology Centre (DMTC). DMTC is a joint venture between defence industry, universities and public research agencies focused on enhancing Australia’s defence capability through the development of new materials and manufacturing technologies.
Posted by DMTC on November 10th, 2009