Nova Systems sets up defence test and assurance capability

Defence industry consultancy Nova Systems will invest an initial $2 million to establish an Australian-first Test and Evaluation Centre of Excellence to support sovereign defence capability assurance and research, digital technologies, training and ideas.

CEO Jim McDowell announced the hub which will bring together Defence, industry and academia at the 2022 Systems Engineering Test and Evaluation (SETE) Conference in Canberra.

The Nova Systems T&E CoE will:

• Support the acceleration of emerging technologies such as digital twins and synthetics
• Enable collaboration across industry and academia to develop sovereign and enduring T&E capabilityEnsure the long-term sustainability of the Australian T&E workforce
• Deliver innovation and Research and Development activities
• Deliver T&E practitioner training and professional short courses
• And deliver subject-matter experts in the field of T&E to distribute in-depth knowledge through training, conferences, seminars, concepts and papers.

McDowell said: “Nova Systems is proud to be unveiling our plans to open an Australian-first Test and

Evaluation Centre of Excellence bringing together the brightest minds, cutting edge research, training and collaboration to create and sustain a sovereign T&E capability that is operationally critical to our nation’s defence mission.

“In the face of increasing global uncertainty, new threats, reduced warning time and insecure global supply chains, it’s a significant time in our history to secure our sovereign capabilities.”

McDowell said there was also scope for a technology incubator intended to create a national and international focus on the development of new digital tools and methodologies for capability assurance.

“Every platform across all domains – land, maritime, air, space and cyber must be tested and assured from concept all the way to disposal – and this is exactly the expertise we deliver.

“Defence is becoming increasingly complex and integrated with a focus on joint-force capability, we need to continually evolve our methods to keep the best capability in the hands of our defence forces.”

Picture: Nova Systems