19/09/06 - $60M for RPDE

Tuesday, 19 September 2006 at 12:21

Following a successful trial, the partnership between Defence and the industry sector which is designed to accelerate the acquisition of emerging capabilities, will be funded by up to $60 million for a further three years, Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence Bruce Billson has announced.

Mr Billson said the Rapid Prototyping, Development and Evaluation Program (RPDE or ‘Rapid’), which commenced operations in February 2005, has demonstrated the value of joint industry and Defence partnering.

“Rapid has matured into an organisation which is delivering enhanced capabilities for our ADF warfighters,” he said.

“It draws people, technology, facilities and contextual information from Defence and 83 industry participants, including major Defence primes, small-to-medium enterprises and academia, together under a shared goal.”

Rapid is currently working on 12 key tasks and has already delivered several important outcomes to Defence. The program is also developing new innovative services to Defence including the ‘Quicklook’ which aims to bring together a broad cross-section of industry together to workshop and provide fast multi-lateral advice, and report to Defence within 10 weeks.

And Rapid’s outcomes are being implemented fast. The Rapid Environmental Assessment Task has already lead Defence to implement changes to organisation, process and technology within its Operational Headquarters.

“Rapid has a created a collaborative, non-competitive environment where Defence and industry can work together to develop new solutions, principally through incremental enhancement of existing capability,” Mr Billson said.

“The Defence Minister Dr Brendan Nelson is also strong supporter of the program and is not only pleased by how it has developed, but believes it has further potential to deliver capability improvements to our warfighters.”