Page 4646 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 31 October 2017
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I had at IAC with Northrop Grumman, SpaceX and Lockheed Martin, the principal sponsor of the IAC, and meetings our defence industry advocate and members of the defence industry advisory board had had with Boeing. The US meetings focused on three broad groups of companies: defence primes with a broad range of interests: Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman; space-focused companies, Planet Labs and SpaceX; and technology companies that currently have a relationship with the ACT government, Microsoft and Cisco.
The defence primes provide a significant opportunity for further growth in Canberra as a result of the defence white paper, the ever-increasing cyber threat to our national security and the announcement of a space agency. As a result of our meeting with Boeing further work is now underway to introduce senior personnel from Boeing to Canberra companies that can participate in Boeing’s international supply chain. As follow-up we will be working closely with the CBR Innovation Network and the Centre for Defence Industry Capability to identify appropriate companies.
In addition, we have engaged with senior personnel from Boeing responsible for that company’s space industry program who have an interest in the development of Australia’s space industry. As a result, we are organising for senior personnel to visit Canberra to meet with representatives of the Australian National University and the University of New South Wales Canberra as well as key companies and players in the Canberra space industry.
Unlike Boeing, both Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman have their Australian headquarters in Canberra but the aim of the meetings was still the same: to grow companies in Canberra because of our city’s strengths and skills in priority areas. Lockheed Martin already is a very active player in the space community in Canberra. For example, it has partnered with EOS space systems to develop laser technologies to track and deal with the ever-growing problem of space debris. Lockheed Martin is also working closely with the ANU and UNSW Canberra on the development of the space industry.
We are competing in a crowded field and it is important that the head offices of these companies are aware of what is happening in Canberra and our city’s unique capabilities. It is also worth noting that within two weeks of our visit to these companies both the Victorian and South Australian governments were meeting with them also. We need to continue to promote ourselves and to be on the radar for these large multinational companies.
As a result of our meeting with Lockheed Martin we are proposing to host a visit to Canberra early next year by Lockheed Martin’s vice president of the advanced technology centre. This will be another opportunity to showcase Canberra’s space and cyber capabilities to an international decision-maker.
As members are probably aware, Northrop Grumman is a major contributor to the defence sector in Canberra. Northrop is a 49 per cent owner of Canberra’s most successful defence company, CEA Technologies. In 2012 it acquired the M5 Network Security business, growing that company from 50 employees to over 120. Now known as the Northrop Grumman Australian Intelligence & Cyber Solutions, it is part
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