LMA to build APAC ICT engineering hub in Melbourne

Lockheed Martin Australia (LMA) will spend $8 million to build an Asia-Pacific ICT engineering hub in Melbourne.

The new facility will act as a regional Centre of Excellence for Defence that will showcase Lockheed Martin’s ICT-related defence systems and technologies.

Victorian Premier Denis Napthine said the project is expected to create around 150 new jobs over five years.

“As well as creating more high-skilled jobs, this project will increase our defence industry’s global competitiveness and open up opportunities for Victorian companies in the global supply chain of a major defence and aerospace company,” he said.

Lockheed Martin Australia already employs over 900 people in Australia and New Zealand - including 150 in Victoria - for programs spanning the aerospace, defence and civil sectors.

Victorian Technology Minister Gordon Rich-Phillips added that seven Victorian-based companies are subcontractors for Lockheed Martin’s Joint Strike Fighter program, “the world’s biggest and most complex defence project”.

He said the new engineering hub will “enhance Melbourne’s reputation as the location of choice for leading global defence companies”.

Pictured: Victorian Premier Denis Napthine at the launch of the new project.