CANBERRA, Australia, May 6 (UPI) -- The Australian government is moving ahead with plans for a battlespace communications system and a project to modernize its military's personnel system.
The projects, announced by Minister for Defense Stephen Smith, and Minister for Defense Materiel Jason Clare could cost as much as $1 billion by the time they are completed.
The Defense Ministry said the first program is the Joint Project 2072 Phase 2B -- Battlespace Communications System (Land): First Pass. It is aimed at providing the Australian military with a next-generation telecommunications network capability.
"This capability will provide a modern, deployable communications system that enables the transmission of information over a range of wired and wireless networking services, such as radios, satellite and computer servers and terminals," it said.
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Joint Project 2072 Phase 2B is cost capped at between about $100 million and $500 million. The government is expected to make a final decision on approval for the project in the period 2012-13 to 2014-15.
The project will enable army and elements of the air force to replace aging mobile communications infrastructure services and provide commanders with an increased level of situational awareness, command and control and information sharing capability.
The second program is the Joint Project 2080 Phase 2B.1-- Funded Project Definition Study for Defense Personnel Systems Modernization .
The government has given approval for the Department of Defense to conduct pre-first pass analysis to investigate the costs and risks associated with streamlining and improving its human resources and payroll systems for military and civilian personnel.
The Defense Personnel Systems Modernization project is a critical part of the government's Strategic Reform Program and will provide a single, unified human resources and payroll system.
It is also expected to improve the administration of human resources and payroll within Defense and enable major reforms in key business support areas such personnel administration, career management, education and training, workforce planning and enterprise reporting.
Joint Project 2080 Phase 2B.1 is cost capped between about $100 million and $500 million.
The Defense Department will now report to the government in FY 2011-12 on its requirements and implementation options with a vital requirement being the integration of the military payroll capability into Defense's core personnel management system.
