SENATOR JOHN FAULKNER
Minister for Defence
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
037/10
Enhanced communications for deployed forces
The Minister for Defence, Senator John Faulkner, today announced that the
Government has approved a significant initiative to enhance communications support
to the Australian Defence Force, including in the Middle East Area of Operations.
Under Defence Capability Plan Joint Project 2008 Phase 5A, Defence is already in
the process of acquiring part of the Intelsat IS-22 UHF payload providing coverage
over the Indian Ocean Region. A contract for the provision of this payload was
signed with Intelsat in April 2009.
Today’s announcement involves approval to exercise the Government’s option to
purchase the full ultra-high frequency (UHF) payload on the Intelsat IS-22
communications satellite at an additional cost of around $193 million. This brings the
total IS-22 payload purchase cost to $475.1 million.
“Purchasing the full satellite payload will improve operational effectiveness and
enhance the communications support to Australia’s deployed forces in the Middle
East and Afghanistan,” Senator Faulkner said.
Coinciding with the visit by the United States Department of Defense Vice Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General James Cartwright, Senator Faulkner also
announced that Australia and the United States have signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) on sharing their narrowband UHF communications resources.
“This initiative will provide the United States added communications capacity for its
operations in Afghanistan by utilising the Australian payload on the IS-22
communications satellite. In turn the Australian Defence Force will gain access to
communications capacity over the Pacific Ocean region from United States’ satellite
resources,” Senator Faulkner said.
The UHF Communications MOU complements the Wideband Global System satellite
partnership between Australia and the United States. The arrangement will result in
significant savings for both nations, provide a more robust communications capability
for the warfighter and add another dimension to the Australian-US Alliance.
The satellite will be launched by the Intelsat Corporation in 2012.
US Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General James Cartwright and Vice
Chief of the Defence Force Lieutenant General David Hurley exchanged the
SATCOM MOU in Canberra today.
Media Note: Imagery and vision of the joint signing will be available at:
Media contacts:
Colin Campbell (John Faulkner):
02 6277 7800 or 0407 787 181
Defence Media Liaison:
02 6127 1999 or 0408 498 664
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