Australia entrusts Lockheed with its integrated air defense system
Lockheed Martin has secured an A$765 million ($487 million) contract to start the first phase of Canberra's Air6500 missile defense project.
The company has beaten US defense giant Northrop Grumman in an effort to provide the Australian Defense Force (ADF) with a Joint Air Battle Management System (JABMS) for future integrated air and missile defense capability.
Lockheed's first-of-its-kind JABMS would provide improved situational awareness and defense against increasingly advanced air and missile threats. It is about having an air defense management system that is able to simultaneously manage the use of anti-aircraft batteries and fighter air defense for optimal coverage of Australian territory. The information part of the system comes from the sensor and detection systems, even remote ones.
It is also expected to give ADFs a greater level of interoperability with U.S. and other allied forces.
“This critical capability will enable the ADF to leverage information from all domains at greater speed, greater accuracy and at a greater scale than it is capable of today,” said company vice president Stephanie C. Hill.
Winning proposition
Lockheed Martin has revealed that it has been working on a version of the Australian JABMS for more than seven years.
It has also invested approximately A$100 million ($65 million) of its own funds and doubled the size of its workforce to support the Air6500 project.
The company's winning entry includes what it claims is "a world's first passive radar" built by Australian company Silentium Defence.
Called MAVERICK, the radar system tracks object reflections from radio waves, enabling the accurate detection of threats from low Earth orbit to the sea surface.
The JABMS also integrates Consunet's electromagnetic battle management subsystem, which allows pilots to go undetected by enemy radars and sensors.
"To realize this important national strategic effort, we are leveraging our extensive experience in delivering battle-proven integrated air defense and missile systems and harnessing the full power of Australia's [defense] industry," the official said. Lockheed Warren McDonald.
Northrop's offer
Northrop Grumman had offered its version of the fifth generation JABMS, which leverages a proven command and control architecture across US domains.
It is designed to connect multiple sensor and decision systems in multiple modes to optimize response to air and missile threats.
The system's modular design enables accelerated decision-making using current and future platforms.
"This technology is relevant now and will continue to be so in the future, providing an effective and long-lasting defensive capability for Australia and its allies," said Northrop Vice President Mary Petryszyn.
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The article Australia entrusts Lockheed with its integrated air defense system comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/lockheed-australia-difesa-aerea/ on Thu, 31 Aug 2023 19:04:10 +0000.