World’s First Deployable X-Ray Unit of its Type
Saab Australia has awarded South Australian company Micro-X a A$1.3 million (€810,000) contract to supply mobile X-ray technology for the Australian Defence Force’s $337 million Deployable Health Capability (DHC), for which is the prime contractor.
The Micro-X ROVER is the world’s mobile x-ray unit to combine full hospital-grade performance with a lightweight deployable solution. Initially developed under a DoD Innovation Hub contract, the ROVER system is the first of its kind to demonstrate diagnostic quality imaging, with the extended power required for trauma imaging of combat soldiers.
“With the majority of the overall deployable health contract value to be spent leveraging expertise and products from more than 70 Australian companies, this contract with Micro-X is one of many we look forward to signing with Australian businesses in the coming months,” commented Saab Australia Managing Director, Andy Keough. “The flow on to the industry and national supply chains will be extremely positive – business growth, jobs creation, future export opportunities, and the kind of innovation that led to the development of Micro-X’s ground-breaking ROVER system […] Born from an innovative SME identifying a gap in the market and a partnership with the Department of Defence’s Innovation Hub to commercialise the solution, Micro-X’s ROVER system is an excellent example of the opportunities for SMEs as we continue to grow our sovereign industry capability.”
Micro-X Managing Director, Peter Rowland, added that the system that it was specifically designed for Australian Army deployment, filling a capability gap in operations in extremely challenging environments. “No other product offers such high performance in a lightweight package – the weight of most hospital-grade mobile x-ray machines make them unsuitable, so prior to the ROVER only small animal veterinary x-ray machines were light enough to be deployed by the military […] The ROVER system was born in Australia with support from the Australian Defence Force and as a result, Australia’s operational capability and the health outcomes for our deployed personnel will be significantly improved.”
