Integrated networks key to Aust defence future- Boeing

Speaking in Sydney, Jim Albaugh, who is also president and chief executive of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems (IDS), said demand was increasing in Australia and elsewhere for networks that better coordinated existing military hardware for battlefield management.

Albaugh cited the Ground-based Midcourse Missile Defense Systems in the US as an example of leading IDS development.

"We linked five or six existing platforms together with software and a (communications) system and we built one new piece of hardware," Albaugh said.

"By doing that we ... can do an intercept in space on closing velocities in excess of 15,000 miles an hour."

Boeing's Australian operation is currently involved in the implementation of the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) system, which will be used in at least four Boeing 737-700s on order.

According to Boeing Australia's website, the first such aircraft is expected to be in service in late 2006.

"(The Australian armed services) want to be network-enabled," Albaugh said.

"They want to be able to share information between platforms, share capabilities between platforms and ... have a much more capable armed services.

"A key to that is going to be the 737 AEW&C program that is being built up in Seattle."

Boeing's other IDS programs in Australia include the High Frequency Modernisation Program and the Vigilare Air Defence System.

"These two programs really will be the cornerstone of the network-centric capability for the Australian government."

Albaugh said the aircraft manufacturer's main source of revenue today was derived mainly from ID rather than commercial aviation.

In 1994, commercial aircraft made up 77 per cent of the business's $22 billion revenue and IDS 23 per cent.

By 2003, however, Boeing's $50 billion revenue was 50 per cent IDS and 45 per cent commercial aviation, with the massive downturn in the commercial airline industry in the wake of September 11 and the SARS virus contributing to the change.