The Aerospace Concepts flight safety analysis team today presented our capability for space launch and re-entry Risk Hazard Analysis (RHA) to the 60th International Astronautical Congress in Daejeon, South Korea.

The conference paper describes how this capability, the Range Safety Template Toolkit (RSTT), is being applied to two very different space safety applications. The first is the HIFiRE joint US / Australia hypersonic flight research program involving a series of suborbital launches and controlled hypersonic flights from Woomera, South Australia. The second is the return to Earth in mid-2010 of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Hayabusa spacecraft.

Ian Bryce, our space engineering adviser, presented his novel fractal fragmentation analysis model for aerospace vehicle breakup to the 9th Australia Space Science Conference in Sydney. This conference was sponsored by the National Space Society of Australia and the Australian Academy of Sciences.

Our conference paper describes how, using fractal fragmentation modelling, a vehicle breaks up into a small number of fragments with certain ratios, and then each fragments breaks again into the same ratio, and so on. This process continues to a number of degrees between 1 and 6, depending on the ratio of the forces applied to the structural strength of the vehicle, tank etc. The one model transitions seamlessly from low to high intensity events and between aerodynamic break and internal explosions. It has been extensively verified against known cases where fragments were recovered.

The fractal fragmentation model is currently being used as part of the Range Safety Template Toolkit (RSTT) to analyse air-launched guided weapons and to support the HIFiRE joint US / Australia collaborative hypersonic flight research program involving a series of suborbital space launches and hypersonic controlled flight from Woomera, South Australia.

Australia's Range Safety Template Toolkit (RSTT) was presented to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference and Exhibit in Honolulu, Hawaii. The conference paper provided a comprehensive update on RSTT development, current capabilities and future intentions.

RSTT is being developed by the Australian Defence Science & Technology Organisation in collaboration with Aerospace Concepts Pty Ltd and other industry partners to support a diverse range of guided weapons in Australian service. RSTT now supports the Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM) carried by the F/A-18 Hornet and will support the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) when it enters Australian service in the near future. Support for other guided weapons will be incorporated in due course.

RSTT capability has recently been expanded to support the DSTO-led HIFiRE joint US / Australia collaborative hypersonic flight research program involving a series of suborbital space launches and hypersonic vehicle controlled flights from Woomera, South Australia.

The Range Safety Template Toolkit (RSTT) being developed by the Australian Defence Science & Technology Organisation in collaboration with Aerospace Concepts Pty Ltd and other companies was today presented to the Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference and Exhibit of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Keystone, Colorado, United States. The paper was presented on behalf of DSTO and Aerospace Concepts by Advatech Pacific, Inc., one of America's leading aerospace technology development and support companies.

The RSTT is being developed to support a diverse range of guided weapons in Australian service, including the ASRAAM within-visual-range air-to-air missile and the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) recently selected by the Royal Australian Air Force.

The Principal of Aerospace Concepts Pty Ltd, Shaun Wilson, today presented at the Pan-TTCP Symposium on Complex Adaptive Systems for Defence held in Adelaide, South Australia, 17-21 July 2006. He presented on developing engineering approaches to deal with complex adaptive systems with emphasis on the differences between these approaches and traditional systems engineering. The presentation is available for download.

Dr Anne-Marie Grisogono of the Defence Science & Technology Organisation today presented a joint DSTO / Aerospace Concepts paper at the 2006 Command and Control Research and Technology Symposium (2006 CCRTS) held in San Diego, California, 20-22 June 2006. The paper describes the long-running Network-Centric Warfare Prioritisation and Integration (NPI) assessment program being conducted in support of Australian Defence NCW capability development. The paper is also available for download.

The Australian Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) today released Aerospace Concepts' review of Network-Centric Warfare (NCW) capability assessment approaches which was developed as part of DSTO's ongoing NCW research. The review encompasses both current NCW assessment approaches as well as areas otherwise unrelated to NCW that may potentially contribute to NCW assessment. The review is also available for download here (5.8 MB) along with an EndNote-format bibliographic database of NCW assessment references.

The Principal of Aerospace Concepts Pty Ltd, Shaun Wilson, has today opened the Complexity in ICT Systems and Projects workshop at The Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering at the University of Sydney. The Workshop was organised by the Systems Engineering Society of Australia (SESA) in association with The Warren Centre as part of the Australian Software Engineering Conference (ASWEC 2006). Proceedings of the workshop will be published via the eScholarship process of Sydney University Press. Shaun's opening remarks, co-written with Chris Skinner, are available for download.

Cameron Boyd, our lead researcher and consultant on Combat Identification technologies, today delivered a research paper on this subject at the IEEE International Region 10 Conference in Melbourne. Known as Tencon '05 (www.tencon2005.org), this conference caters for a broad range of technology interests for IEEE Region 10 covering Pakistan to New Zealand and Australia to China and Korea.

Dr Michael Jokic of the Defence Science & Technology Organisation today announced that DSTO, in collaboration with Aerospace Concepts Pty Ltd and other companies, is developing a guided weapon safety analysis capability to support Australian Defence operations into the 21st Century. Dr Jokic was delivering a paper at the Systems Engineering / Test & Evaluation (SETE) Conference in Brisbane.

Cameron Boyd, one of our key NCW research team members, has today delivered a paper on comparing approaches to NCW assessment. This paper, derived from Aerospace Concepts' collaborative research with the Defence Science & Technology Organisation, is an important foundation element in our NCW Prioritisation and Implementation (NPI) work for the Defence NCW Program Office. Cameron was speaking at the Systems Engineering / Test & Evaluation (SETE) Conference in Brisbane.

The Principal of Aerospace Concepts Pty Ltd, Shaun Wilson, has spoken at an international conference in Washington, DC about technology for Combat Identification. His presentation, based on research conducted for the Australian Department of Defence, covered more than 25 potential Combat Identification technologies ranging from simple cloth patches and vehicle-mounted panels to emerging technologies such as quantum dots.

The Australian Department of Defence today released Aerospace Concepts' preliminary study into the Australian Army's Future Offensive Support System (AFOSS) needs. Release of the report was announced via the joint Government / Industry Capability Development Advisory Forum (CDAF). The report, prepared in conjunction with the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, is the outcome of an initial examination of the command and control issues facing the Army's fire support capability in the coming decade and beyond.

The Australian Department of Defence today issued a Worldwide solicitation to industry to inform a capability study of future Ground-Based Air and Missile Defence (GBAMD) systems and technologies. The study, being conducted in support of Defence Project LAND 19 Phase 7, is being managed by Aerospace Concepts Pty Ltd.

GBAMD system suppliers, media outlets and other interested parties are invited to register interest in the capability study via support@concepts.aero. The study is due for completion in October 2008 with initial industry responses due by 1 September 2008. Note that the results of the study are intended for Department of Defence use only and will not be publically released. The solicitation is available for download.

The Australian Department of Defence today launched a Worldwide market technology survey for Terminal Air Control (TAC) technologies and products. The survey, being conducted in support of Defence's Project LAND 146, is being managed by Aerospace Concepts Pty Ltd. The survey solicitation brief is available for download.

The Australian Department of Defence today launched a Worldwide market technology survey for Combat Identification technologies and products. The survey, being conducted in support of Defence's Project LAND 146, is being managed by Aerospace Concepts Pty Ltd. The survey solicitation brief is available for download.