Northrop Grumman has announced it will make a AU$50 million investment to develop an advanced defence electronics maintenance and sustainment centre located in Western Sydney. The centre will ultimately be located at the Badgerys Creek precinct, where Northrop Grumman will be the anchor tenant for an advanced aerospace and defence industries precinct.
Over the coming decades, Australia will require defence solutions that are more sophisticated and increasingly reliant upon complex electronic systems, according to Northrop Grumman. The company’s 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,” said Ian Irving, chief executive, Northrop Grumman 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. 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. Northrop Grumman will help to sustain the advanced capabilities of the ADF 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.
“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,” said Irving.
“This is a natural extension to Northrop Grumman’s ongoing investment in Australian industry and local academia.”