IN Brief:
- Daronmont Technologies completed two JORN Phase 6 site installations in three to four weeks.
- BAE Systems attributes the milestone to almost eight years and approximately 125,000 hours of programme activity.
- Phase 6 will renew radar and frequency-management hardware, communications equipment and operator software across the network.
BAE Systems Australia has reported completion of two installations by its partner Daronmont Technologies within the latest phase of the Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) upgrade, bringing equipment developed and tested over several years into the network’s remote operating environment.
Based in Adelaide and Melbourne, Daronmont completed the two installations in three to four weeks, according to BAE Systems. The work follows almost eight years and approximately 125,000 hours of engineering, programme management, testing and integration activity. Neither the locations of the two installations nor the specific equipment fitted have been disclosed, and the milestone does not represent completion of the wider Phase 6 upgrade.
JORN provides wide-area surveillance across Australia’s northern and western approaches. Its three high-frequency radar sites are at Longreach in Queensland, Laverton in Western Australia and Alice Springs in the Northern Territory; personnel at RAAF Base Edinburgh in South Australia operate the network remotely. Defence Science and Technology Group gives a surveillance range of 1,000 to 3,000 kilometres, subject to propagation conditions and target characteristics.
Unlike a conventional radar whose usable range is constrained substantially by the curvature of the Earth, JORN transmits high-frequency radio signals towards the ionosphere. Under suitable conditions, the signals are refracted towards distant areas of the surface and their echoes return by a comparable route. Receivers and signal-processing systems examine those returns to detect and track activity beyond ordinary line of sight.
Because the ionosphere changes with solar activity, time of day and location, operators cannot assume that one transmitting frequency will give consistent coverage. The radar must select suitable frequencies, account for changing signal paths and distinguish moving targets from returns produced by the sea or ground. Doppler processing helps separate some moving objects from that background clutter, while accurate timing and calibration are needed to position detections. Those tasks place demands on both the radio-frequency equipment and its associated software.
The approximately A$1.2 billion Phase 6 programme is led by BAE Systems Australia and is intended to extend JORN’s service life beyond 2040. The Australian Department of Defence describes a redesign covering most radar and frequency-management hardware, information and communications equipment, and a new open software architecture and operator interface. The upgrade therefore affects several connected parts of the surveillance system rather than a single receiver or display. More than 110 Australian suppliers contribute to the programme, including specialist smaller businesses.
Daronmont’s site work follows preliminary and detailed design reviews, development test and evaluation, and factory acceptance testing. Engineers use those stages to establish whether a design satisfies its requirements, examine equipment performance while modifications remain possible, and test built units before shipment. Installation adds a further requirement: equipment accepted in a factory must function when connected to the radar site’s existing power, communications and antenna infrastructure.
Connections that are straightforward to simulate in a test laboratory can be more difficult at a remote high-frequency radar facility. Replacement computing and communications equipment must preserve necessary interfaces with existing systems, while installation and commissioning have to demonstrate correct operation under actual site conditions. Where a change affects timing, frequency control or signal processing, even a modest interface error can prevent measurements from being correlated reliably across the wider network.
Earlier work within Phase 6 included a live-radar trial of a new human-machine interface, allowing operators to control a radar through updated software. The Department of Defence also identifies a broader programme of sensor and signal-processing improvements. The interface work and wider signal-processing changes are separate programme elements; BAE Systems has not specified that either was included in Daronmont’s two newly completed installations.
Commissioning work at remote radar locations must be coordinated with operating schedules, site access and the availability of specialised test equipment. Teams also need to establish that installed hardware operates reliably with the site’s electrical systems, environmental controls and communications links. BAE has not reported the acceptance results for these installations, leaving subsequent verification distinct from the physical work completed by Daronmont.
Rubin Kothari, Daronmont’s head of programmes, identified technical, contractual and logistical challenges during the eight-year effort. Nathan Herrmann, BAE Systems Australia’s high-frequency sensing programme director, credited the collaboration between the companies and said it would continue through subsequent stages. Their accounts establish the installation milestone but give no confirmed date for acceptance of the whole modernised network.
The two installations move a defined portion of Phase 6 into its site-integration stage, with system-level verification and further work still required. The programme’s eventual acceptance will depend on whether upgraded hardware and software deliver reliable surveillance when operated together across the three radar sites, not solely on the speed at which individual components can be installed.
