Leidos wins LAND156 SIP contract

Melbourne-based Leidos Australia has won the $45.9 million contract to be Defence’s Systems Integration Partner (SIP) in Line of Effort 1 of its Counter-Small Uncrewed Aerial Systems (C-SUAS) Project LAND156. The announcement by Pat Conroy, Minister for Defence Industry, comes only a few days after he announced Line of Effort 2 of Project LAND156, worth some $38.7 million; 20 companies, including 14 Australian companies (Sydney-based DroneShield among them) won contracts under this part of the project.

Learning from the ongoing campaign in Ukraine, under this project Leidos Australia will deliver and evolve, initially to Capability Target State 1 (CTS1), the ADF’s C-SUAS capability to address the increasing threat of drones in modern warfare. CTS1 will see the fielding of a Minimum Viable C-SUAS Capability (MVC) by December 2025. The project will support the ADF’s current and future operational requirements and enhance responsiveness to emerging drone threats, says Defence in a statement.

This investment will accelerate the adoption of cutting-edge technologies, Defence says. It has adopted a continuous modernisation model as part of this project, ensuring the ADF will have access to cutting-edge capabilities as they’re developed.

“This project is both a benchmark and a blueprint for how we continue to deliver speed to capability,” said Conroy. “The structure of Project Land 156 will ensure Australia stays ahead of the evolution cycle in relation to counter-drone technology, giving the ADF the capabilities it needs.

“Counter-drone technology is critical to keeping our ADF members safe, and that’s why the Government is ensuring our soldiers, sailors and aviators are provided with the best technology to protect them.”

Defence has accelerated the acquisition of C-SUAS capabilities for the ADF as part of a $1.3 billion investment over the next 10 years.

This builds on the contracts already announced by the Albanese Government as part of this project which have seen the rapid introduction of at least 120 of the world’s most capable threat detectors and drone-defeating technologies, Defence says.

The overwhelming majority of the work under Project Land 156 will be delivered by Australian companies. However, Leidos’s parent US company already delivers the AirShield C-UAS system to the US Department of Defense. The company hasn’t said, but this may be the basis of its evolving C-SUAS system for the ADF. AirShield can reportedly be integrated with other sensors and effectors and the open architecture adopted by Leidos means more companies can be integrated in the future, providing both quickly evolving capability and more opportunities for the Australian supply chain.

Under this project, the Australian Army will undertake an initial rapid demonstration of a C-SUAS MVC by December 2025, which will include:

• An Australian command and control capability – the Cortex Command and Control System, developed by Acacia Systems
• An Australian effector system, delivered by EOS Defence Systems
• An Australian sensor system, delivered by Department 13
• Additional sensor and effector systems
• Services including systems integration and capability assurance, which will be delivered in Australia by Australians