The fine print:
By trialling next generation SBAS, Australia becomes a leader of SBAS technology in the Asia Pacific, particularly through the early adoption of this technology in emerging applications.
Here we go again. Nothing good can come from this. Again we become "a leader" and an "early adopter" which guarantees that this project will be an expensive failure even before it starts.
The reason for my dark prediction is that the "leaders" and the "early adopters" cop 100% of the technical, organisational and business risk associated with development and implementation of such a system, and believe me there are ALWAYS unforeseen risks and costs associated with any project.
The first and foremost is that technical specifications for products are in development but are not yet frozen. The aircraft products do not exist, or are very expensive, or both and the early adopters cop all the technical risk associated with driving the production cost down the learning curve.
For my Two cents, what is wrong with implementing WAAS/Egnos/Glonass right effing now?
There is no technical risk because its a mature technology and product costs are minimal.
In addition, has anyone bothered to factor in the huge opportunity costs associated with running a Two year trial followed by God knows how long for implementation? Then of course there is CASA and Airservices to contend with.
For goodness sake, use existing stuff!