The Australian Department of Defence has unveiled its new Defense High Performance Computing system to provide solutions for data-related challenges in the military.
The computing infrastructure is called “Taingiwilta,” a term borrowed from the Karuna people meaning “powerful.” It will be housed in the “Mukarntu,” or “computer,” secure facility.
The supercomputing platform can process a “million times faster than a standard computer.” It is expected to provide rapid, complex calculations and large dataset analysis for Australian defense scientific and engineering problems.
The Taingiwilta will also work to develop, design, and analyze modern weapon and national security systems.
The supercomputing capability was launched at the Defence Science and Technology Group site at the Edinburgh Defence Precinct, South Australia. The Australian Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles led the event.
The Australian government is currently recruiting personnel to increase the workforce managing the infrastructure.
Supercomputing System for AUKUS
The supercomputing system will play a vital role in support of AUKUS, the trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
In this initiative, the partnering nations will utilize the state-of-the-art capability for security priorities, including quantum technologies, nuclear-powered submarines, and artificial intelligence.
“The high-performance computing capability not only provides Australia with a sovereign capability that allows us to pursue activities in our national interest, but it also gives us a strong foundation for even closer collaboration with partner nations,” Marles said.
“Defence acknowledges the assistance provided by representatives of the US Department of Defense’s High Performance Computing Modernization Program who willingly shared their 30 years of knowledge and experience to support Australia’s work to establish this world-class capability,” the defense minister added.