Defence has signed Harris Corporation to provide the Army and Air Force with next generation communications services.
The $135m Battlespace Communications contract will see Harris deliver significantly increased voice and data transmission capabilities with greater security.
The deal is also a part of the wider effort toward delivering more sophisticated communications to the Australian Defence Force, or in the words of Greg Combet, Minister for Defence Materiel and Science, delivering the “networked battlefield”.
“This new acquisition will provide the ADF with significantly increased voice and data transmission capabilities that will help increase battle space awareness,” Combet said in a statement.
“This will provide improved protection and coordination for Australian Defence Force personnel, allowing missions to be carried out more efficiently, safely and effectively.”
Defence has also announced it will hold a media roundtable this Friday to discuss its ongoing reform program.
In March, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the department slammed its ICT policy as not best practise.
Speaking at the Australian Computer Society 2010 Canberra conference, CTO Matt Yannopoulous detailed the department's various failures to consolidate ICT and re-stated the department's commitment to following the strategic imperatives outlined in the Defence Information and Communications Technology Strategy report released last year.