The Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and Lockheed Martin Australia have signed a new strategic alliance to collaborate on a range of technologies for strengthening defence and national security.
The agreement was signed for DSTO by the Chief Defence Scientist Dr Alex Zelinsky and for Lockheed Martin Australia by Chief Executive Raydon Gates.
“This ten year agreement with Lockheed Martin Australia reaffirms DSTO’s commitment to enter into long term partnerships with industry for enhancing Australia’s current and future defence capability,” Dr Zelinsky said.
“As Lockheed Martin Corporation is a significant global player in the security, aerospace and information technology markets, there are many opportunities for collaboration,” he added.
“We have agreed to undertake joint research in a range of areas including predictive logistics, trusted assurance, the Aegis combat system, over the horizon radar, hypersonics and operational analysis.”
Mr Gates also welcomed the alliance.
“Lockheed Martin is very pleased to collaborate with DSTO in addressing complex challenges associated with high end defence capabilities,” Mr Gates said.
“The advancement of interactive projects under the alliance will provide important direction for future strategic investments in Australia and enable us to be more responsive to emergent customer requirements.”
In recent months DSTO has been actively pursuing new industry partnerships to increase investment in strategic research. It has recently signed a number of strategic alliances with defence companies including BAE Systems, Thales, SAAB Australia, ASC and IBM.