RPDE Quicklook 130: Assessing Australian Industry to Deliver and Support a SUAS Fleet for the Australian Defence Force 

Introduction

The Rapid Prototyping, Development and Evaluation (RPDE) program (www.rpde.org.au) supports the Australian Defence Organisation to address complex issues and problems and deliver innovation quickly by engaging directly with industry.

Quicklook 130 (QL130) at RPDE was established by the Sponsor, Army Headquarters, to address the following question:

“How can Defence assist in developing the ability of the Australian SUAS Industry such that it will improve the availability of high quality equipment and services?”

Proposed Scope of Australian SUAS Industry

QL130 has been tasked with assessing the ability of Australian industry to deliver and support a Small Unmanned Aerial System (SUAS) fleet for the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

For the purposes of this activity, QL130 proposes that the characteristics of an SUAS are:

• Back-packable – elements of the SUAS that support one mission without access to external power should be back-packable by a single person;
  
• One person operation - including setup, mission planning, control, recovery and maintenance;
  
• Setup in and operable from a confined space - e.g. a small shed, back of a ute or a small boat;
  
• Air Vehicle launchable by a maximum of 2 people with no launch support equipment;
  
• Air Vehicle recoverable without support equipment; and
  
• Operable without external power.
  

QL130 has looked to define Australian SUAS industry and proposes the use of criteria such as:

• Australian ownership;
• Located in Australia; and
• Perform at least one of the following activities in relation to SUAS or subsystems/components:
• Design, development, integration or manufacture;
• Provide support services; or
• Conduct research and development.

Approach

QL130 seeks to engage with the Australian SUAS industry to determine its capacity to deliver and support an SUAS fleet for the ADF. The plan is to do this through:

• An on-line survey;
• An industry workshop;
• Site visits; and
• A Capability Demonstration.

Through the industry engagement, QL130 will seek to:

• Confirm the definition of Australian industry;
• Confirm the high level characteristics of a SUAS; and
• Better understand Australian industry capacity and capability, including through the capability demonstration.

The Capability Demonstration will provide an opportunity for the SUAS industry to show their products and services to Defence. Both static ground displays and flight demonstrations will be possible. The Capability Demonstration is expected to be held in the Canberra area. Please note that organisations wishing to perform flight demonstrations will require $20 Million in public liability insurance cover.

Further details about the above QL130 events will be released in the near future.

The RPDE engagement process invites the opportunity for one on one interactions throughout.

Timeline

The planned windows for QL130 events are:

• Late June-mid July 2016:                 on-line survey;
• 4^th-8^th July 2016:                               industry workshop;
• July 2016:                                            site visits; and
• 29^th-30^th August 2016:                      capability demonstration.

Firm dates for the events will be announced as soon as they are confirmed.

Points of Contact

Activity Manager:  Mr Dan Kopunic, +61 2 6127 4948

Quicklook Lead:  Mr Danny McGinley, 0430 270 061

Email: QL130@rpde.org.au