Image credit: news.northropgrumman.com
Global security company Northrop Grumman will invest $50 million in an advanced defence electronics maintenance and sustainment centre located in Western Sydney.
Image credit: news.northropgrumman.com
Northrop said the centre will ultimately be located at the Badgerys Creek precinct, where the corporation will be ‘the anchor tenant’ for an advanced aerospace and defence industries precinct.
The company believes Australia will require more sophisticated defence solutions over the coming decades, increasingly reliant upon complex electronic systems.
Ian Irving, chief executive, Northrop Grumman Australia said the investment will establish an Electronic Sustainment Centre of Excellence (ESCE) to support this effort and sustain mission-readiness capabilities within the Commonwealth.
“Northrop Grumman is deeply committed to Australia. This investment in a new centre of excellence is the next step in our partnership with the Australian Defence Force [ADF], helping to ensure regional security and mission success,” Mr Irving said.
“We are excited to enable the Commonwealth to sustain these next-generation capabilities locally.”
The new centre will support advanced electronics such as communications equipment, electronic warfare equipment and targeting pods.
Mr Irving said it will help to sustain the advanced capabilities of the ADF in country by bringing together highly skilled technicians, engineers and other professionals whose work will be further supported by the company’s high-end technology and software expertise.
“Northrop Grumman’s solid understanding of the maintenance and sustainment needs of the ADF is a result of decades of logistics know-how and successful partnerships on multiple programs,” he continued.
“Our extensive engineering and systems design capabilities uniquely position us to provide a comprehensive, full lifecycle approach to manned and autonomous platform and system management for the country.”
The corporation already has in place strategic partnerships with Dickson College, Sydney University and the American Australian Association, as well as collaborative research with the Australian Defence Force Academy/University of New South Wales and the University of Adelaide.
Northrop Grumman also supports indigenous and regional education initiatives through activities such as Space Camp and the Northrop Grumman Regional Scholarships to the Australian National University, and Mr Irving believes the new centre represents a another step forward in supporting the advanced capabilities of the ADF in country.
“This is a natural extension to Northrop Grumman’s ongoing investment in Australian industry and local academia,” he concluded.
