The Albanese Government is accelerating the acquisition of cutting-edge drone and counter-drone technologies for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to keep Australian's safe and protect our military assets.
Just four months after the announcement of Project LAND 156, the Albanese Government has issued an initial rolling wave of contracts worth $16.9 million to 11 vendors, including five Australian companies, to rapidly deliver counter-drone capability and technologies.
This means that following testing, at least 120 of the world's most capable threat detectors and drone-defeating technologies, will rapidly be introduced into service by the ADF.
The Government will announce further counter-drone acquisitions in the coming months, including contracts to deliver a command-and-control capability, and additional advanced counter-drone sensors and effectors, giving the ADF more options to protect Australian defence bases.
Through Project LAND 156, the ADF will continually upgrade and refresh capabilities to address emerging drone threats. This process is driven by $58 million of investment by the Albanese Government over the past three years in research, development and prototyping.
The Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator's (ASCA) Mission Syracuse is also accelerating the development of capabilities to counter medium size drones and swarms of drones, providing cutting-edge future capability options for LAND 156.
The Albanese Government is investing more than $10 billion on drones over the next decade, including at least $4.3 billion on uncrewed aerial systems. This funding will strengthen the sovereign Defence industry, with partners such as Droneshield, Sypaq Systems, AMSL Aero, Grabba Technologies and Boresight.
These capabilities will complement current in-service drones such as the Black Hornet, PUMA, Wasp, Skylark and R70 Skyranger, as well as those currently being introduced into service including the Switchblade 300, Insitu Pacific Integrator, and Quantum Systems Vector 2-in-1.
The ADF has a large array of uncrewed aerial systems already in service, including armed drones. A range of drone capabilities are also being tested at Exercise Talisman Sabre to accelerate evaluation, and delivery into the hands of the ADF.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Defence Industry, Pat Conroy:
"We have accelerated the acquisition of an appropriate mix of drone capabilities to suit Australia's environment of military interest and are continuing to examine new autonomous capabilities.
"The Australian Government knows drone and counter-drone technology will continue to evolve rapidly.
"The delivery of cutting-edge drones and counter-drone technology shows the increasing speed at which Defence and industry are able to deliver new capabilities to the ADF.
"Australian industry is critical to delivering this technology, and they are demonstrating world leading innovation while creating Australian jobs."
