Stephen Kuper

The company’s major investment in the Melbourne, Florida-based sixth-generation precinct is designed to bolster Northrop Grumman’s pitch to the US Navy for the lucrative, sixth-generation fighter program to replace the ageing Super Hornet-based carrier airwing fleets.

The companies are positioning the Australian-designed uncrewed combat aircraft as a way for the German Air Force to move rapidly from CCA concept development towards operational capability while retaining sovereign control over key technologies.

The jointly funded technology demonstration is the first to showcase automated manned-unmanned teaming between the two platforms using an open systems architecture, allowing machine-to-machine mission planning and execution.

MILLIBEAM has revealed Rakurai, a new hand-held counter-uncrewed aerial system (C-UAS) built around a proprietary Australian-developed radiofrequency (RF) architecture that the company said delivers greater performance, broader frequency coverage and improved power efficiency than conventional electronic warfare systems.

An Australian-developed advanced solid rocket motor has completed its first successful flight test at the Koonibba Test Range near Ceduna in South Australia, demonstrating the nation’s growing ability to design, manufacture, integrate, and validate critical missile propulsion technologies.

Australia will become the first nation outside the US to operate the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile, with a $736 million investment delivering a new generation of long-range air-to-air weapons designed to maintain the Royal Australian Air Force’s edge in an increasingly contested Indo-Pacific.