The in-country facility, situated within the city’s airport precinct, will be one of only two in the world capable of producing Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) and Joint Strike Missiles (JSM).
It comes after Lockheed Martin beat Northrop Grumman last year to win the $765 million contract to revolutionise how Australia monitors and shoots down incoming missiles.
AIR6500 will deliver four advanced air-defence radars, manufactured by Canberra-based CEA Technologies, with the first delivery expected later this year.
The first two aircraft to undergo the ‘Increment 3’ modification will be upgraded in Jacksonville, Florida, with the remainder of the fleet of 12 to be completed at RAAF Base Edinburgh, South Australia.
Located at CSIRO’s Lab22 facility, the new, state-of-the-art Nikon SLM-280 will be able to print metals side-by-side in one continuous print, enabling the precision manufacture of more affordable aerospace components.
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