Lockheed Martin Australia announced Thursday (11 June) that it has awarded eight contracts to Australian industry and academic organisations for a combined value of A$600,000 to write ‘White Papers’ on the development of novel and emerging advanced technologies in support of Australia’s Attack Class Submarine combat system. This is the second cycle of research and development (R&D), which is funded under the Future Submarine Combat System Integrator Programme.
The R&D programme is based on an on-going nine-month cyclic process funded by the commonwealth and administered under the Lockheed Martin Australia contract. Each R&D cycle consists of proposals from industry and academia against a set of published R&D topics. After a competitive review and assessment of proposal responses, down-selected responses are awarded a contract to fund further development of a White Paper. Upon completion of the White Papers, further contracts may be awarded to selected respondents for On-going Capability Research.
The combat system R&D programme features a continuous process to build on-going Australian combat system R&D capabilities that have been scaled to meet the long-term needs and developing future capability and technology for the Australian Submarine Force. The programme includes a defined approach for transition of successful R&D outcomes into the evolving Attack Class combat system baseline configurations. To date, two R&D cycles are currently underway with a third cycle commencing later in June.
Joe North, chief executive Lockheed Martin Australia and New Zealand, said Lockheed Martin Australia looked forward to working with the successful organisations to develop and deliver world-class innovative technologies for Australia’s Attack Class submarines. “The Attack Class Submarine Programme represents a long-term, multimillion-dollar investment in the future defence and security of our nation. Today’s announcement is another step towards ensuring Australia has the technology and skills to deliver and maintain a regionally superior submarine fleet. Lockheed Martin Australia, in concert with the Department of Defence is proud to be creating genuine R&D opportunities for industry and academia to develop enhanced and innovative combat system capabilities,” North said.
Requests for the following topics under Cycle 2 projects were sought and the organisations that have been successful for the award of contracts of A$75,000 each are shown against each topic below:
- Novel methods for reliable communications on an unstable platform:
Contract awarded to Innovations for Humanity Pty Ltd from NSW; - Emerging technologies for improved autonomous celestial navigation:
Contract awarded to University of Adelaide; - Distributed underwater sensor networks and their impact on submarine operations:
No contracts were awarded under this topic for Cycle 2; - Novel methods to integrate compressive sensing techniques:
Contract awarded to University of South Australia; - Novel methods to monitor, track and efficiently manage power within racks:
Contract awarded to University of Melbourne; - Use of advanced materials and fabrication processes to overcome Space, Weight, Power and Cooling constraints:
Contract awarded to Airspeed Pty Ltd located in South Australia; - Investigation into real-time monitoring of human performance:
Contract awarded to University of South Australia; - Smart driven dynamic reallocation of computing resources based on compute demands:
Two contracts were awarded under this topic to University of Tasmania and IPACS Australia Pty Ltd located in South Australia.
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