Australian technology firms are bringing business home, and they are starting with Boeing. Australian Technology Information (ATI) was the winner of the contract to design a data communication system for the airline. The system will go into commercial planes, and they will also be creating systems for the RAAF.
Australian Technology Information will provide civilian rated data communications systems and controls for civilian planes in Australia. For the RAAF the company will concentrate its efforts on creating the hardware and software support behind essential tactical communications. The Australian planes previously received their data communication system support from United States based companies.
Why is this news? It’s a step to bring technology jobs and aspects of the airline business back into Australia. It also serves to make the RAAF more independent from foreign countries. Being more self sufficient means only good things for the Australian Defense Force.
The tactical software will be used to control weapons fire from the RAAF planes. It will run on UHF and satellite frequencies, which may be short range but remain clear and without data fluctuation in situations where time is critical. The contract will mean as much as $7 million AUS each year for ATI.
The winning bid is part of a new effort by the recently created Office of Australian Industry Capability (OAIC) to bring business back to Australia. OAIC hopes to bring as much as $100 million AUS into Australia in technology business.
