Barrett Communications is one of sixteen Australian companies who have joined Team C4 EDGE (Evolutionary Digital Ground Environment), to scope the development of a sovereign land battlegroup and below communications environment for the Australian Army.

The program will leverage internationally agreed open standards to grow and demonstrate Australian C4 Industry capacity and capability to deliver a battlegroup and below C4 capability.

Ultimately, by the end of 2021 the program will have delivered a proof of concept demonstrator that shows the capability of Australian Industry to further develop a protected, integrated and supportable sovereign system: one that delivers agile and resilient C2 functionality to meet the flexible, scalable and interoperability needs of a battle group operating independently or with partners.

Team C4 EDGE intend to deliver a demonstration of Australian industry capability in late 2021, subject to Army approval of the next phase, offering Australian C4 (Command Control Communications and Computing) technology which may include:

• Mounted and dismounted radio-frequency bearer systems
• Force tracking
• Battle application environment
• Network planning and management
• Data distribution systems
• Sovereign cryptography
• Sovereign waveform

In June 2020 EOS Defence Systems signed a $4.2m AUD contract with the Commonwealth to act as the Lead Contractor for team C4 EDGE delivery of Phase 1, over the period Jun-Sep 20.

Phase One will design and define the demonstration system, establish the essential accreditation architecture and processes necessary to deliver an “accreditable by design” demonstration capability and associated industry development plans.
Team C4 EDGE Statistics:

• C4 EDGE is represented in 6 Australian States and 1 Territory
• 16 Australian C4 Subject Matter Expert companies
• 975 employees
• Approx $616M of annual gross turnover
• Approx $408M in annual global exports

Team C4 EDGE invites Australian C4 companies that can meet the participation guidelines at Attachment 1 – to contact C4 EDGE regarding participation in the future phase of the program.

Barrett Communications is a participant in the C4 EDGE Team. Headquartered in Western Australia, Mr Andrew Burt, Chief Executive Officer of Barrett Communications said: Barrett Communications specialise in the design and manufacture of HF SSB and VHF radio communications equipment for tactical and strategic infrastructure. Barrett are excited to be a participant in the C4 EDGE Team bringing the inherent capability of Australian Industry together to provide defence a truly sovereign communications capability for the future.