Lockheed Martin awards 3rd round of submarine combat system R&D contracts

Lockheed Martin Australia announced the award of seven contracts to Australian industry and academic organisations for a combined value of A$525,000 to author White Papers on the development of novel and emerging advanced technologies in support of Australia’s Attack Class Submarine combat system. This is the third cycle of research and development (R&D), which is funded under the Future Submarine Combat System Integrator Program, bringing the total awarded to date to over A$2m across 19 unique Australian industry and research organisations. The R&D Program is based on an ongoing 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, selected responses are awarded a contract to fund development of a White Paper. Upon completion of the White Papers, further contracts may be awarded to selected respondents for Ongoing Capability Research. Two earlier R&D cycles (Cycle 1 and Cycle 2) are currently underway with those White Papers currently being assessed for longer term Ongoing Capability Research funding. A total of 27 responses were received across the six Cycle 3 R&D topics, with seven successful organisations awarded contracts of A$75,000 each: Investigate the feasibility of small form-factor, multi-function, Electronically Steered Array (ESA) for Electronic Support (ES) and Communications in submarine environment Two contracts awarded under this topic to Solinnov (SA) and Curtin University (WA) Instantaneous 360 video – Miniturisation of optical bench No contracts were awarded under this topic for Cycle 3 Methods for improving cyber resilience of container orchestration environments Two contracts awarded under this topic to IPACS (SA) and Saab (SA) Integration of SATCOM bearers in a single antenna payload Contract awarded under this topic to EM Solutions (QLD) Console design in-line with, and beyond state-of-the-art currently developed for ships Contract awarded under this topic to University of South Australia (SA) Innovative ways to manage cables Contract awarded under this topic to University of Newcastle (NSW) The Attack Class Combat System Integration R&D Program features an ongoing process to build Australian combat system technologies that have been scaled to meet the long-term capability needs for the Australian Submarine Force. The Program includes a defined approach for the transition of successful R&D outcomes into the evolving Attack Class combat system baseline configurations. For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Kym Bergmann at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Director of Sales Graham Joss at [email protected]