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Leidos Australia and Lockheed Martin Australia have announced a partnership to provide and develop software and cyber services for the ADF’s future Joint Air Battle Management System under AIR 6500.
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As part of the contract, Leidos Australia will provide Lockheed Martin Australia with critical software development, cyber security, verification and validation services to support the development of the AIR 6500 Joint Air Battle Management System.
This work will support Lockheed Martin Australia to deliver to the Australian Defence Force a highly robust and secure open systems architecture for AIR 6500 that will provide an advanced integrated air and missile defence capability to combat current and future threats.
Leidos Australia chief executive Paul Chase said, “We are proud to be partnering with Lockheed Martin Australia to provide this mission critical capability to Defence. This is an exciting opportunity for Leidos which supports our business growth in Australia, while providing our Australian engineering team an opportunity to work in partnership with Lockheed Martin to shape and validate capabilities integrated into AIR 6500.
AIR 6500 Phase 1 will serve as a foundational element of Defence’s Integrated Air and Missile Defence capability in the Joint Air Battle Management System being delivered under the project.
The project will provide the architecture at the core of the Australian Defence Force’s future Integrated Air and Missile Defence capability through the delivery of a command and control system, enabling Defence to coordinate and synchronise air and missile defence capabilities.
The capability represents a significant enhancement beyond Air Force’s in-service Air Defence System and will be delivered in two tranches.
Expanding on the comments made by Chase, Lockheed Martin Australia and New Zealand chief executive Warren McDonald said, “We are delighted to partner with Leidos Australia, who bring a wealth of experience to AIR 6500. The partnership marks an important focus on designing a rigorous, independently validated, agile air battle management system that supports the Australian Defence Force.”
Tranche one is acquiring four active electronically scanned array radars to replace the in-service Tactical Air Defence Radar System, with the new radars being procured from Canberra-based company CEA Technologies.
The new radars will be able to detect aircraft and missile threats at greater ranges and with increased accuracy, allowing for greater warning, decision and response time, with Defence stating that first radar is scheduled to be delivered in 2024.
“Having Leidos Australia integrated into the AIR 6500 project builds trust and discipline into the agile software development process. It allows Leidos Australia to work directly with our engineers in real time to test and evaluate incrementally. This supports our engineers to continually progress and or resolve technical issues rapidly to achieve project milestones,” McDonald said.
Leidos Australia and its 2,000 local experts have been a trusted partner to the Australian government, including the Department of Defence, for more than 25 years, having delivered some of the country’s most complex software and systems integration projects.
Headquartered in Canberra, Lockheed Martin Australia is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation. The company employs more than 1,600 people in Australia, working on a wide range of major programs spanning the aerospace, Defence and civil sectors.
