Capability Through Collaboration
ADF secondment into Raytheon Australia enables greater capability partnership with the Australian Army for the LAND 19 Phase 7B program.
Access to real time Army expertise is removing the guessing game when it comes to understanding how to design programs that are focused on operational capability outcomes from the outset.
Following Raytheon Australia’s inaugural Army officer secondment, Major Michael McDonnell spent a year embedded within the company’s LAND 19 Phase 7B program team working on Australia’s new short-range ground-based air defence system – the first beyond-visual-range capability Army has ever had to operate.
“The opportunity gave me an insight into how a capability partner operates within Defence and the appreciation of the team it takes to deliver a revolutionary capability to the Australian Defence Force,” said McDonnell.
Critical to the delivery of the LAND 19 Phase 7B program has been Raytheon Australia’s close partnership with the Australian Army end-user, ensuring that operational capability outcomes remain the key focus throughout the delivery of the program.
The Army officer secondment initiative was conceived by Raytheon Australia Managing Director Michael Ward and then-Chief of Army Lieutenant General Rick Burr in early 2019. The idea was to enable real-time access to Army’s knowhow and allow Raytheon Australia to plan for actual capability requirements.
A key concept of this partnership was the establishment of a position within the program for a tertiary qualified engineer from the Corps of Royal Australian and Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, providing them with the opportunity to develop engineering acumen.
The secondment also provided McDonnell with early exposure to defence industry, where he took a lead role in the delivery of Army’s new integrated short-range ground-based surface-to-air defence system.
Leadership and relationship management were fundamental to McDonnell’s success during the secondment period, working closely with suppliers, Defence, and the Army end-user to maximise the performance of the Raytheon Australia-led LAND 19 Phase 7B program team.
The LAND 19 Phase 7B program team "genuinely benefitted from Michael's insight, technical expertise and leadership," said David Creagh, Raytheon Australia's director for Land requirements and capability.’
“Not only did he demonstrate a willingness to go above and beyond what was expected of him, his ‘can-do’ attitude, military acumen and engineering expertise were pivotal to us to help achieve a number of significant project milestones for this critical operational capability,” Creagh said.
The LAND 19 program is built upon collaboration and partnership, beyond Raytheon Australia and Defence but more broadly this program drives collaboration across the entire defence ecosystem to enable industry to act as a fundamental input into defence capability.
“It has been an honour to work alongside Raytheon Australia’s world-class team that is delivering this capability to Army,” said McDonnell.
“After a year of working with both Raytheon Australia personnel and supporting defence organisations, it is comforting to know that critical capabilities like LAND 19 Phase 7B are in safe hands, delivered by people that have a genuine passion and investment in providing operational outcomes to the ADF that are second to none,” said McDonnell.
Work is already underway with the Australian Army to select the next secondment candidate for 2024.
