24 September 2020

Raytheon Australia lines up partnerships for UAS bid

by Jon Grevatt

Raytheon Australia has announced a team of 10 local companies to support its bid to supply to the Australian Army with a tactical unmanned aircraft system (UAS) under the Land 129 Phase 3 programme.

The company said in a statement on 24 September that the series of partnerships are aimed at creating a “sovereign and sustainable UAS industry to support the Australian Defence Force now and into the future”. The partnerships will also explore export opportunities.

Raytheon Australia is bidding for the contract with Schiebel’s S-100 Camcopter UAS platform. This partnership was announced in July.

Schiebel has previously supplied its S-100 Camcopter (pictured) to the Royal Australian Navy. Raytheon Australia is now partnered with Schiebel and nine other companies to offer the platform to the Australian Army. (Schiebel)

In its new statement, Raytheon Australia said that in addition to Schiebel Pacific – Schiebel’s local subsidiary – its other local partners in the project include Air Affairs Australia, Innovation Composites, MMCLD, Calytrix, Penten, Varley, Sentient Vision, Rojone, and Thomas Global.

The company said its offering for the Land 129 programme will enable 150 jobs and “prioritises regional investments”. It added that the offering promotes local manufacturing, with the S-100 to be “assembled, and parts to be sourced and manufactured, in-country”.

Raytheon Australia’s offering aims to leverage the Australian Army’s leasing of the S-100 platform to conduct a series of advanced payload exercises in support of Land 129 Phase 3 in December 2018.

In February 2017 Schiebel also announced that it had been selected by the RAN to supply two S-100 Camcopters to fulfil the service’s interim vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) UAS requirement. Schiebel established its Australian subsidiary in 2018.

Raytheon Australia has announced a team of 10 local companies to support its bid to supply to the Au...

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