Luminact’s Taipan C2 Concept Demonstrator Vehicle (CDV) (Taipan) has returned safely to the garage after a successful showcase of features to the ADF at Russell Offices in Canberra, Australia. Following the launch of the Taipan C2 at Land forces 2022, this highly anticipated interactive demonstration of the vehicle’s Command and Control (C2) system capabilities was very well received by members of the ADF user community.
For the first time, spectators had the opportunity to ride in the Taipan cockpit and engage with the integrated onboard communications systems. The demonstration was a huge success, and a lot of interest was generated for the Taipan vehicle.
Luminact shared the stage with Kymeta on the day, who demonstrated their satellite bearer capability provided by the Osprey u8, also mounted on the Taipan C2. The Taipan C2 vehicle also hosted local radio communications provided by the Silvus StreamCaster 4200 MiMo radio for local data networking, and two Barrett PRC-2080+ VHF tactical transceivers for line-of-sight voice communications. The demonstration involved testing radio communications while the vehicle was stationary (“at-the-halt”) and while the vehicle was in motion (“on-the-move”).
The Taipan’s design reflects a modular approach to subsystem integration. The Taipan’s features can be seamlessly added, removed, swapped, or scaled according to a customer’s individual requirements, without compromising the integrity of the Taipan platform as a system of systems. The rear equipment bay, rear removal flat storage tray and roof equipment mounting rails received praise on the day for potential equipment reconfiguration options and alternate system mounting.
The Leonardo DRS GVA Smart-Display touch screen mounted in the passenger seat was installed with a Windows operating System for the demonstration, running the IRIS situational awareness and messaging software, developed by Brisbane-based company Neoplexus. This system attracted praise on the day for its potential for use in a C2 capacity and possible applications in the field.
This demonstration effectively presented a harmonised extreme mobility C2 solution comprised of disparate systems from different vendors, integrated under a common platform. This continues to reaffirm Luminact as an integration and interoperability (i2) thought leader within the Defence Communications space.
