More SILVERSHIELD Counter-IED systems for Afghanistan
Defence will deliver more than 15,000 SILVERSHIELD vehicle-mounted Improvised Explosive Device (IED) counter-measures units to the Afghanistan National Defense and Security Forces this year.
SILVERSHIELD is the latest evolution of C/IED systems being developed under Defence’s REDWING program. It disrupts radio-controlled IEDs. Assembled by L3Micreo in Brisbane, SILVERSHIELD won a High Commendation in the tightly-fought Land Forces 2018 Innovation Award for ISR and Cyber at Land Forces 2018 in Adelaide. The SILVERSHIELD program was also a finalist in the 2018 Essington Lewis Awards, which recognise excellence in Australia’s defence industry.
Minister for Defence, the Hon Linda Reynolds CSC said this capability would empower the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces to operate confidently in a high-threat environment.
“The REDWING program is one of Australia’s largest contributions to the Afghan security forces through the Afghan National Army Trust Fund,” Minister Reynolds said. “We are extremely proud to produce life-saving force protection systems for our Afghan partners to help address the evolving threat of improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan.”
Since 2015, Australian industry, in collaboration with Defence, has produced and exported more than 224,000 individual and vehicle-mounted REDWING systems to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.
Final assembly of the SILVERSHIELD units is carried out in Brisbane by L3 Micreo. Components are sourced from companies across Australia, including:
- Axiom Precision Manufacturing (Adelaide, South Australia)
- SRX Global (Australia) (Melbourne, Victoria)
- ZCG Scalar (Lindenow, Victoria)
- LINTEK (Queanbeyan, New South Wales)