Upgrade of Satellite Communication Research and Development Facility

The Defence Science and Technology Group (DST Group) currently operate a satellite communication (SATCOM) ground station facility at its laboratories in Edinburgh, South Australia.It can be reconfigured flexibly and quickly to support unusual, urgent and unforeseen requirements in a manner that is not possible for operational SATCOM anchor stations.The DST Group SATCOM Facility was granted temporary access onto the Wideband Global Satellite Communication (WGS) satellite constellation under a waiver without demonstrating an ability to meet WGS certification requirements, however this waiver period has now ended and transmission to WGS satellites is no longer permitted.The DST Group SATCOM Facility antennas are obsolete and importantly, it is not possible to certify the antennas for WGS access due to technical limitations.

To adequately progress DST Group SATCOM research and support client needs, an upgrade of the DST Group SATCOM Facility is required. As WGS will be the primary Australian military wideband SATCOM system for the foreseeable future the ability to operate on the WGS capability is essential. DST Group is looking to acquire a minimum of one Military X/Ka-band satellite communications terminal for operation on WGS with the option of a second terminal based on a value for money assessment of the capability.