Lockheed to build R&D lab in Melbourne
Lockheed Martin has confirmed that Melbourne, Australia, will be the location for its upcoming Science Technology Engineering Leadership and Research Laboratory (STELaR Lab).
The multi-disciplinary research and development (R&D) facility is being established to tackle future technology challenges. Over three years, the company will invest an initial AUD$13 million in the facility.
The lab will house the company’s national R&D operations centre for its current Australian research portfolio, and undertake internal additional R&D programmes. Researchers are set to explore several fields including command, control, communications, computing, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as robotics, autonomy and hypersonics.
The new STELaR Lab is scheduled to open in early 2017, located between the RMIT University and University of Melbourne.
Keoki Jackson, chief technology officer of Lockheed Martin, said: ‘The decision to establish a multi-disciplinary R&D facility in Australia was partly based on Lockheed Martin’s own track record of research and development success with Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Group and Australian universities over the last 20 years.’
More from Defence Notes
-
Orchestrating operational readiness across every defence domain
Are all systems ready for the next mission? Have upgrades been applied? Are all assets aligned to deploy together, on time and fully prepared? In modern defence operations, readiness is no longer measured platform by platform. It is measured by how well people, assets, data and decisions move together — across land, sea and air.
-
How deepening AI usage can boost efficiency and maximise effects for forces
Saab has outlined how it is using artificial intelligence to make training more like electronic gaming, while the UK’s Power Size Technologies is applying the same technology to better evaluate and design vehicle capability, moving AI-enabled innovation further upstream from the frontline.
-
From systems integrator to multi-domain solutions provider (video)
Philipp von Brandenstein, Head of Corporate Communications at Rheinmetall, explains how Eurosatory 2026 marked a new stage in the company's evolution.
-
US Pentagon pushes for major reform of defence acquisition system
The US Department of Defense has requested new contracting authorities from Congress, using the Army's MV-75 Cheyenne programme to demonstrate how competition, digital engineering and closer industry collaboration could accelerate acquisitions.
-
US speeds up B61-13 nuclear bomb production as programme moves further ahead of schedule
The US government plans to accelerate production even further after achieving key B61-13 milestones months ahead of schedule, as the programme advances amid growing US-China strategic competition.