Stephen Kuper

The six-person MTT-C team is embedded with PNGDF counterparts on three-month rotations, three times a year. Their focus spans training, flight operations, aircraft maintenance, logistics and personnel management, areas critical to building a capable and self-reliant air force in the near region.

The agreement sets out a formal framework for closer co-operation, improved information sharing and clearer alignment between spaceflight and air navigation rules – a move officials have said will build industry confidence as Australia’s space sector continues to expand.

Lockheed Martin’s famed Skunk Works division, working alongside industry partners and the United States Air Force, has successfully demonstrated the ability for a pilot of a fifth-generation fighter jet to control an unmanned aircraft while in flight.

Australia’s P-8A fleet will receive upgraded antennas, sensors, and software designed to enhance processing power and communications, which will significantly boost the aircraft’s ability to detect, track, and engage advanced submarines.

The exercise, involving both air and ground crews, will be conducted across the greater Sydney, Wollongong and Goulburn regions. Soldiers and aviators will face complex, high-end simulated threat scenarios designed to test their readiness and co-ordination in realistic conditions.

The announcement comes as the US Navy prepares to keep the Super Hornet in frontline service well into the 2040s, despite earlier plans to curtail production, and has direct implications for Australia.