The Department of Defence has selected Lockheed Martin as its strategic partner for the AIR6500 Phase 1, supporting the delivery of a Joint Air Battle Management System (JABMS) to the Australian Defence Force (ADF).
The system will form the architecture at the core of the ADF’s future Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) capability.
JABMS is intended to deliver greater situational awareness and defence against increasingly advanced air and missile threats and provide ADF with increased levels of interoperability with the United States and allied partners.
“Australia’s AIR6500-1 program is truly transformational. It will set the blueprint for future military Joint All-Domain Operations across the globe,” said Stephanie C. Hill, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems.
“This critical capability will allow the ADF to leverage information from across all domains at greater speeds, with better accuracy and at a greater scale than it is capable of today,” she added.
Lockheed Martin Australia said it has advanced a sovereign AIR6500-1 system solution that has been built from the ground up in Australia by Australians to bolster national security.
To date, the company has validated more than 130 Australian small to medium enterprises as potential partners and committed $74 million to establish the country’s future IAMD ecosystem to accelerate collaboration between academia, industry, Defence, and allied partners on IAMD capabilities.
The IAMD ecosystem is expected to create more than 400 direct and 1,000 indirect local jobs.
Lockheed has also invested $100 million into AIR65000 and grown its sovereign workforce to over Australian staff dedicated to the program.
“Lockheed Martin is deeply committed to being the ADF’s trusted, long-term sovereign partner for AIR6500-1. To deliver on this key strategic national endeavour, we are leveraging our vast experience delivering battle-proven Integrated Air and Missile Defence systems and harnessing the full might of Australian industry to build a sovereign 21st Century Security capability trusted to defend Australia and its national interests now and in the future,” said Warren McDonald, chief executive officer of Lockheed Martin Australia and New Zealand.
