Silentium Defence joins Lockheed Martin’s Global Industry Mentor Program

Australia’s sovereign industrial base capability continues to grow with Lockheed Martin Australia announcing small-to-medium passive surveillance leader Silentium Defence is  joining the Lockheed Martin Mentor Protégé Program (MPP). Silentium Defence, only the second company outside of the US to embark on the MPP, will participate in an intensive 12-month mentoring program gaining access to Lockheed Martin’s leading subject matter experts across Australia and the US. During the program, Silentium Defence will receive extensive business development coaching, along with strategies and tools to accelerate their business growth and maturation across ethics, contracting, quality, cyber security and understanding ITAR. Lockheed Martin Australia and New Zealand Chief Executive Warren McDonald congratulated Silentium Defence on being hand-picked to participate in the global mentoring opportunity. “Lockheed Martin Australia actively identifies and supports homegrown ‘best of breed’ companies to join our global supply chains to bolster Australia’s Defence industry’s sovereign industrial capability, grow the local workforce as well as help support companies to compete on the international stage. A robust, resilient and internationally competitive Defence industry is vital to Australia’s security and economic interests, and we are proud to support this national endeavour,” McDonald said. Silentium Defence’s Chief Technology Officer, Simon Palumbo welcomed the opportunity to join Lockheed Martin’s mentor program. We are executing on a ten-year technology roadmap that will see Silentium passive radars integrated into the evolving doctrine of how Defence achieves situational awareness, locally and globally,” Palumbo said. “Key to achieving that mission is a deep understanding of the mechanisms for scale, engagement, and export into priority international markets. We are grateful to leverage Lockheed Martin’s more than 70 years of experience in this area alongside key knowledge and relationships through the Mentor Protégé Program, to help accelerate the achievement of that goal. Passive radar is at a critical junction for Defence, recognised as a sovereign industrial capability priority. All three Services have demonstrated the value of passive radar, and now is the time to expedite delivery into the hands of the people who can use it the most, our ADF and its allies.” Lockheed Martin Australia’s Head of Industrial Development, Christopher Hess, highlighted that, “In parallel to the mentoring program, Lockheed Martin Australia’s Office of Australian Industrial Participation (OAIP) leads a national strategy to match world-class solutions with business opportunities globally. We are proud to have provided unprecedented opportunities to Australian industry meeting with over 3,500 companies, introducing some 400 new companies to the Defence industry space as well as facilitating over 100+ export contracts since 2012,” he said, “The MPP is our flagship training program among many that help to grow Australia’s sovereign industrial capability, nurture innovation, and take Australia to the world.” For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Kym Bergmann at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Director of Sales Graham Joss at [email protected]