The Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) is Australia's first comprehensive land and air early warning system.

First developed in the 1970s, it has undergone advancements and upgrades over the last 50 years and provides a 24-hour military surveillance of the northern and western approaches to Australia - playing a vital role in Australia's air and maritime operations, border protection, disaster relief and search and rescue operations.

As JORN undergoes a mid-life upgrade, Ventia is part of the team that will undertake this critical work. Our Telecommunications team is working with prime contractor BAE Systems Australia, and is responsible for the installation of the fibre and coaxial cables which will form a part of the upgrade.

The project will improve performance and extend JORN's operational life to beyond 2042.

Our team will undertake project management, design and construction to support the installation of the new cabling that is required to the various antenna.

Thomas Hermans, Project Director Defence ICT for Ventia said the team was proud to be contributing to such a critical piece of infrastructure.

"This project sees our team working on infrastructure that is at the cutting edge of high-frequency, skywave over-the-horizon radar (OTHR) technology," he said.

It's an exciting opportunity for our people to not only demonstrate their expertise but also work on a site that is critical to Australia's air and maritime operations, border protection, disaster relief and search and rescue.

The team broke ground in early November and our work is expected to run through to March 2022.