SUPPORTING OPERATIONAL AIR FORCE AIR DEFENCE

The Vigilare System is a state of the art integrated ground-based air defence command and control system for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). It provides three core functions of tactical and strategic air surveillance, battlespace management, and the training of Air Combat Officers and Air Surveillance Operators.

Vigilare combines data from a range of Australian Defence Force (ADF) platforms and sensors. Near real-time inputs from these assets are correlated at two Regional Operations Centres (ROCs) and displayed at operator consoles providing a recognised wide area surveillance picture. Supporting civil and defence flight information and weather data is also integrated to enable a fully integrated view of Australian airspace.

PROJECT SCOPE

Daronmont’s involvement with Vigilare commenced in 2004 when Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) subcontracted Daronmont to produce several key software components of the system, encompassing visualisation, database management and a large variety of sensor and agency interfaces.

These components were successfully completed and delivered to BDA in late 2008. Daronmont has provided on-site support of the software at Boeing’s premises in Brisbane for the last two years and continues to assist Boeing in their current integration, installation and comissioning activities.

On 2nd September 2010 Vigilare became operational with all surveillance and air battlespace management over Australia now being performed at NORTHROC situated at RAAF Base Tindal, Northern Territory. EASTROC situated at RAAF Base Williamtown, New South Wales became operational in 2011.

CAPABILITIES DEMONSTRATED

Project Management:

Management of all project activities to deliver on schedule and to budget, including the tracking and configuration of nearly 100 Subcontract Change Proposals (SCPs) over the past 6 years.

Verification & Validation:

Formal testing of software against specified requirments.

Software Systems Engineering:

Development of 3 software components comprising operation interface, database manager and sensor interface. The operator interface utilised a commercial off the shelf (COTS) tactical display framework, which was highly customised to meet RAAF operator requirements.

Software Support:

Maintenance of development and formal test environments for continuned software support, including enhancements and COTS upgrades. Services include on-site support in Brisbane and issue investigation and tracking.