Lockheed Martin
A US Marine Corps Lockheed Martin F-35B fighter jet taxis after landing at the Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford, Britain July 8, 2016. Reuters/Peter Nicholls

Aircraft maker Lockheed Martin would build its Science Technology Engineering Leadership and Research Laboratory (STELaR) in Melbourne. The company will initially invest $13 million spread over three years.

The laboratory, slated to open in early 2017, would be the first multi-disciplinary facility which the US defence giant would establish outside the United States. It aims to solve technology challenges of the future and work on the art of the possible, reports ZDNet.

STELaR would also pursue additional internal R&D programmes on fields such as hypersonic, autonomy, robotics and command control, communications, computing, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance, reports UPI. The lab would be run by more than 20 employees during the first three years of operations.

Dr Keoki Jackson, chief technology officer of Lockheed, says in a statement, “The decision to establish a multi-disciplinary R&D facility in Australia was partly based on Lockheed Martin's own track record of research & development success with Australia's Defence Science and Technology Group and Australian universities over the last 20 years.”

The lab would be built between the University of Melbourne and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Among Lockheed’s board members is Kim Beazley, former deputy prime minister of Australia and ex-ambassador to the US. Beazley, who joined the defence giant’s board in June, as the mining boom ends and Australia rebalances its economy, the defence sector would play a key role in the transition. The sector would also provide substantial opportunities for Australia’s SMEs.

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