Australia Picks Lockheed as Preferred Bidder for Defense Satcom Project; Robert Lightfoot Quoted

The government of Australia has selected Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) as the preferred bidder for a multibillion dollar project to develop the country’s next-generation military satellite communications system.

Lockheed said Monday it will work with a team of Australian companies to build the control and ground segments for the JP9102 military satcom project.

The industry team comprises AV-Comm, Blacktree Technology, Calytrix Technologies, Conscia, Clearbox Systems, DXC, EM Solutions, Inovor Technologies, Linfox, Ronson Gears and Shoal Group.

Robert Lightfoot, executive vice president of Lockheed’s space business, said the company is excited to work with Australia’s defense force and industry on the JP9102 project.

“We are bringing to bear all of Lockheed Martin’s companywide capabilities as well as our commitment to supporting allied nations to provide an operationally proven system that meets mission needs in terms of coverage, capacity, resilience and extensibility of the constellation,” added Lightfoot, a 2023 Wash100 awardee.

Lockheed also teamed up with the government of Victoria to make the Australian state the engineering and technical hub for the project, a move that is expected to generate over 200 jobs in the state’s space industry.

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