Lockheed Martin selects Victoria for satellite system development

Lockheed Martin Australia (LMA) has chosen Victoria as the engineering and technical hub for its proposed sovereign military satellite communications system, which is being offered to the ADF under JP9102.

This investment would create over 200 advanced space industry jobs in Victoria.

At the same time Lockheed Martin ANZ announced partnerships with Marand, Survitec and TR Calibration to provide instrumentation, calibration and repair services for its aircraft ground support equipment as part of Lockheed Martin’s Product Support Provider network (PSPn).

Chief Executive for Lockheed Martin Australia and New Zealand Warren McDonald said: “This in-country support will improve F-35 sustainment by eliminating costly and time-consuming shipping, reducing turnaround times and costs for Australia and its Indo-Pacific allies.

“These contracts also provide industrial opportunities for Australian companies, which result in continued growth opportunities for Australia’s defence industrial base.”

Under the Victorian deal LMA would invest in infrastructure and programmes in Victoria to support the delivery of a Military Satellite Communications (MILSATCOM) solution for Defence.

Victoria’s Minister for Manufacturing Sovereignty Ben Carroll said this had potential to accelerate the growth of the State’s space sector.

LMA has established its STELaRLab operation in Melbourne, the company’s first multi-disciplinary research and development laboratory outside of the United States.

McDonald said: “Through STELaRLab we are currently partnering with universities from across Australia in critical areas such as space-based image exploitation, automated AI-based knowledge generation using nuero-symbolic reasoning, and developing world-leading sovereign technologies for space domain awareness.”

Picture: Lockheed Martin Australia