Australia will fund seven innovative technologies to keep the defense forces on the cutting edge, Greg Combet, Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science, said on June 26.
The promising proposals will be developed under the Capability & Technology Demonstrator (CTD) Program managed by the Defence Science and Technology Organization.
“These projects are a combination of brand-new technologies and novel applications for existing technologies,” Combet said. “It is research like this that helps our [Australian Defence Force] ADF maintain their capability edge.”
One of the proposed technologies from Sydney company Blue Glue was demonstrated at the Sydney Aquarium with a wrist-mounted computer that monitors a diver’s vital signs from the surface to enhance safety during operations.
Other successful proposals include:
Saab Systems: Software to streamline information flow between old and new command and control systems;
SMS Defence Solutions: Technology to improve Defence’s geospatial information storage capability;
BAE Systems: Enhanced surveillance technology for unmanned aerial vehicles;
Thales Australia: A high-power, low frequency underwater acoustic system for minesweeping;
Sentient Vision Systems: A system to detect potential threats from moving and static ground vehicles; and
Secure Systems: A secure hard drive for protection and movement of classified data.
“The selected proposals represent a wide variety of industry expertise from both small- to medium-sized enterprises and established Defence contractors,” Combet said.
The CTD Program supports Australian industry to demonstrate new technologies that contribute to defense capability. The projects announced on June 26 have been allocated funding of more than $10 million.