F-35 Stealth Fighter Jet Fires 181 Rounds a Minute0:45
A Lockheed Martin F-35A stealth fighter jet fired 181 rounds from its four-barrel, 25mm Gatling gun during a ground test at Edwards Air Force Base, California, earlier this month. Photo: Lockheed Martin/Matt Short
$50 million upgrade for Woomera Testing range after Defence warns missile and aircraft testing is becoming unsafe
THE Woomera Test Range will undergo a $50 million upgrade after Defence warned that obsolete systems would soon make it unsafe for aircraft, missiles and other weapons tests to be conducted at the top-secret site.
The installation of new technology will allow the world’s largest testing range to put Australia’s new F-35A Joint Strike Fighters through their paces.
The range, in the 122,000sq km Woomera Prohibited Area, is used to conduct complex research and experiments involving hypersonic rockets, other weapons systems and aircraft.
The upgrades proposed by the Federal Government would include the creation of three inert and three high-explosive target sites and new communications systems supported by the installation of 61km of buried fibre-optic cables.
A Defence submission to federal Parliament said that obsolete testing equipment had to be controlled manually by staff co-located with radar and optical sensors
The new testing and monitoring equipment will be operated by remote control.
“The major systems, facilities and infrastructure that currently support (Woomera Range Complex) services are rapidly becoming ‘unfit for purpose’ and unsafe for operations due to equipment obsolescence and long-term physical decline of the enabling facilities and infrastructure,’’ the Defence submission to federal Parliament’s Public Works Committee said.
The upgrades would turn the Woomera complex into one of the most technologically advanced and effective land-based testing and research ranges.
The cost of the project would be $48 million, not including GST.
The Woomera range was established jointly with the United Kingdom in 1947 and military testing facilities are in almost constant use.
In 2014, the Government formally returned 1782 sq km where British nuclear tests were conducted in the 1950s and 1960s to the Maralinga Tjarutja people.
Large sections of the Prohibited Area have also been opened up for exploration by mining companies.
The Government yesterday also outlined plans for a new $39 million home in Canberra for a cyber security centre that would be operated jointly by police, intelligence and Defence agencies.
Concerns about cyber security have been increasing in Canberra since a foreign government hacked Bureau of Meteorology computer systems and the Census website was shut down after repeated “denial of service” attacks.
Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop yesterday announced the appointment of security expert Tobias Feakin as Australia’s first Ambassador for Cyber Affairs.
Dr Feakin will work with overseas agencies to strengthen cyber security and prevent internet-based crimes.