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The prime has teamed up with a number of Australian firms to develop new deployable cabins containing locally-produced technologies.
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Lockheed Martin Australia (LMA) has partnered with NSW-based fabrication specialists Varley Group to deliver new Tactical Air Defence Radar Systems (TADRS 2.0), portable processing cabins, and a Next Generation Deployable Facility (NGDF) portable cabin concept demonstrator.
The technology is based on the design of the classified transportable facilities developed to support the Royal Australian Air Force’s F-35 fleet.
The development of the NGDF cabin was led by Varley Group, while the technology fit-out was performed by LMA staff in Adelaide and in Newcastle with the support of R&R Murphy and local firm ISG Sheetmetal and Laser.
“The deployable cabins we are producing with Varley Group and our other Australian industry partners are the result of work by hi-tech skilled Australians and represent a world-class capability,” Lockheed Martin Australia chief executive Joe North said.
“As part of LMA’s commitment to continuously grow more high-skill jobs in Australia we are exploring opportunities to further develop and export this capability.”
The NGDF concept demonstrator was unveiled at the Hunter Defence Conference 2021, attended by Lockheed Martin Australia rotary mission systems business development director Neale Prescott, who outlined the capabilities offered by the technology.
“The NGDF has been designed to demonstrate new technology and innovation from Australian industry and academia, exploiting the flexibility and power of contemporary software tools and techniques in a deployable, secure form factor that provides a tangible example of LMA’s commitment to advancing Australian sovereign defence capability,” he said.
“Akin to a smartphone with any imaginable combination of applications, the NGDF’s open architecture allows for rapid capability insertion and experimentation with innovative Australian technologies and capabilities that will be utilised alongside the ADF and Coalition partners during major exercises such as Talisman Sabre 21 in July 2021.”
Varley has also completed fabrication for the first of four new TADRS 2.0 portable processing cabins ahead of delivery to the ADF in September.
TADRS 2.0 is set to replace the legacy TADRS system, reducing its mass by approximately 50 per cent to enhance agility and mobility.
TADRS 2.0 has been designed to produce a modular surveillance radar and communications platform capable of rapid deployment and extraction by the ADF in support of the Royal Australian Air Force 41 Wing’s surveillance, airspace control and combat air support operations.
“The newly developed TADRS 2.0 processing cabin is a result of a long-standing partnership between LMA and Varley established through the 15 years of sustainment support provided by LMA to the ADF on the TADRS,” Prescott added.
“LMA and its partnership with the ADF have transitioned of the original Lockheed Martin (US) prime contract to a complete sovereign capability, providing all engineering and logistics support services required by 41 Wing to maintain its operation commitments.”
[Related: Lockheed, Thales to jointly develop local guided missile capability]
