Defence Project Wins Australian Engineering Excellence Award
The P3 Accord, an alliance between the Defence Material Organisation (DMO) Maritime Patrol Systems Program Office
(MPSPO), Australian Aerospace and BAE Systems Australia has won a major accolade at the Engineers Australia National
Excellence Awards.
Announced at Engineers Australia gala presentation in the Great Hall at Parliament House in Canberra, P3 Accord was one
of five recipients to achieve national recognition by receiving an Australian Engineering Excellence Award. All project
finalists were judged for their outstanding excellence, innovation and best practice.
The award was jointly received by Officer Commanding MPSPO, Group Captain Tim Pedley, and the P3 Accord General Manager,
John Longrigg.
The P3 Accord team rapidly acquired, integrated, tested and fielded the AP-3C Orion aircraft Operational Support
Tactical Common Data Link (TCDL). The RAAF Orions now support Coalition operations in the Middle East Area of
Operations.
The P3 Accord strategic alliance provides capability upgrades and through-life-support for the P3 Orion fleet. The DMO
delivered the TCDL capability to a very aggressive schedule, using considerable innovation which was exhibited through
the close working partnerships that has been developed within the Accord.
“The upgrade enables RAAF Orion crews to provide Coalition commanders with valuable real time aerial views of their
surrounding environment. The introduction of TCDL technology means that detailed, aerial visuals of an area can be
beamed to ground troops, day or night, to help identify hostile or suspicious activities. This has never been
successfully done by any major Australian Defence systems to date, let alone from an aircraft to individual soldiers,”
Group Captain Pedley said.
ENDS