Lockheed Martin to open Melbourne R&D centre

Global technology company Lockheed Martin has announced that it will be investing $13 million over the next three years in an Australian research and development centre.

The Science Technology Engineering Leadership and Research Laboratory (STELaR Lab) will be situated in the heart of Melbourne’s emerging technology district between University of Melbourne and RMIT. It will constitute the company’s national R&D operations centre for its current research portfolio in Australia and will also undertake additional internal R&D programs.

“Lockheed Martin laboratories operate on the frontline of applied research and development, and have been responsible for many advanced technology breakthroughs,” said Lockheed Martin Chief Technology Officer Dr Keoki Jackson. “It is our vision that STELaR Lab will add to that unparalleled legacy of technological excellence and contribute to the advancement of human knowledge.”

Scheduled to open in early 2017, the STELaR Lab will enable researchers to assess and test new technologies in areas such as hypersonics, autonomy, robotics and command, control, communications, computing, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. It will also create jobs for science and technology graduates, Lockheed Martin said, with the lab anticipated to employ over 20 people within three years.

Australia’s newly appointed Minister for Defence Industry, Christopher Pyne, said he welcomes the opportunities that the lab will delivery for Australian industry, “particularly in providing opportunities in advancing cutting-edge technologies”.

“This will be the first centre of its type outside the US and will provide collaborative research opportunities with the Defence Science and Technology Group in the Australian Department of Defence, as well as universities and innovative small and medium enterprises,” he said.