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Australia has cancelled a multi-billion dollar military satellite project with Lockheed Martin, with a Department of Defense statement on Monday saying the military will instead shift its focus to a multi-orbit system.
Lockheed Martin Australia was announced as the preferred tenderer last year for the Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellite communications system, in a project that was to deliver Australiaโs first sovereign-controlled satellite communication system over the Indo-Pacific ocean regions.
The project for a single orbit satellite with Lockheed Martin had been cancelled, the Department of Defense said in a statement on Monday.
“With the acceleration in space technologies and evolving threats in space since the projectโs commencement, Defense has assessed that a single orbit GEO-based satellite communications system would not meet strategic priorities,” the statement said.
It said Australia would instead prioritize a multi-orbit capability to increase resilience for the Australian Defense Force.
In a radio interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said while Australia’s defense budget was increasing, his government was prioritizing its purchases.
When the Lockheed Martin project was announced last year it was said by authorities to be a “multi billion dollar” deal, but in Monday’s Defense statement there was no specific value to the cancelled project.
However, Defense said in the statement that it will still allocate A$9-12 billion ($13.87 billion) for space capabilities.
ยฉ Thomson Reuters 2024.