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The local firm has been tapped to support the manufacture of the defence prime’s secure communications offering.
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Northrop Grumman Australia has onboarded the support of Queensland-based electronics engineering company IntelliDesign, which has been tasked with supporting hardware design services and contract manufacturing of secure communications solution (SCS) devices.
The SCS-200 capability is billed as a sovereign solution designed to deliver simple, secure network access for deployed teams and individuals across key organisations, including the Department of Defence and Department of Home Affairs.
The SCS-200 offering is set to be manufactured at IntelliDesign’s plant in Seventeen Mile Rocks, Queensland.
Delivery of the SCS to government agencies is scheduled for 2023.
“Our agreement with IntelliDesign will help ensure Northrop Grumman Australia is able to deliver sovereign, resilient and secure communications capabilities to support Defence and Commonwealth agencies,” Christine Zeitz, general manager, Northrop Grumman Asia-Pacific, said.
“Our partnership also creates additional benefits for local small to medium businesses in IntelliDesign’s already established supply chain to become part of Australia’s defence industry and to grow our nation’s sovereign industrial capability.”
The collaboration with IntelliDesign is also expected to support compliance with new Commonwealth of Australia requirements, building on supply chain governance and assurance across cyber security.
As part of its push to strengthen resilience across its supply chain, Northrop Grumman Australia is set to offer certification accreditation resources and recommendations aimed at protecting IntelliDesign systems and infrastructure from cyber threats.
“We are immensely proud to be supporting Northrop Grumman with the manufacturing of the SCS-200, a leading-edge communication device,” Matt Bromwich, CEO of IntelliDesign, said.
“This partnership forms part of our long-term strategy to be Northrop Grumman’s electronic design and manufacturing partner of choice in the development of future communication devices.”
This Australian collaboration comes just weeks after Northrop Grumman Corporation and US-based telecommunications company AT&T entered into a collaboration agreement to research and develop a digital battle network for the US Department of Defense.
The capability is expected to leverage AT&T 5G and Northrop Grumman’s advanced mission systems.
Specifically, the companies have committed to delivering a cost-effective, scalable, open architecture solution designed to enable DoD to connect distributed sensors, shooters and data from all domains, terrains and forces.
The network is tipped to integrate high speeds, low latency and cyber security protections of private 5G networks, while also supporting Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2).
The agreement involves the establishment of a joint research and development framework to prototype, demonstrate and test AT&T’s commercial 5G networking capabilities integrated with Northrop Grumman systems.
[Related: Northrop Grumman, AT&T partner to develop 5G battle network
