The Australian Department of Defence has ceased its procurement of a single-orbit Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO)-based satellite communications system from Lockheed Martin Australia.
A multi-orbit satellite solution will instead be prioritized, as it can better meet strategic priorities that enhance security and resilience, based on assessments.
“This decision allows Defence to prioritise emerging needs, mitigate capability gaps and continue to support our transition to an integrated, focused force,” the statement read.
Change of Direction
In a television interview with ABC News, Defence Minister Richard Marles described the move as “a change of direction in terms of how we deliver the capability for our communications network in Defence,” to ensure the country’s capabilities in meeting future threats and opportunities.
He mentioned seeing technologies “which can literally shoot satellites out of the sky” and those “where you have thousands of micro satellites in a much more distributed way providing the same effect,” citing Starlink above Ukraine.
“What we need to make sure that we’re doing as we move forward is delivering a communications capability which is more distributed, which is therefore more resilient, and we believe we can do that in this way faster and more cost effective,” Marles added.
However, Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior analyst Malcolm Davis said that while a multi-orbit capability is ideal, he’s “not convinced that cancelling the existing JP9102 approach instead of simply adding LEO and MEO components is the right way to do it,” referring to Low Earth Orbit and Medium Earth Orbit satellite architectures.
“The statement offers no words on when a new decision will be made on how best to proceed, timelines, cost, or the architecture of the proposed ‘multi-orbit’ capability,” he added.
In 2021, Canberra went out to tender for a company to provide it with a Department of Defence-owned and operated GEO-satellite communications system.
In 2023, Lockheed Martin was selected to deliver Australia’s first sovereign military communications satellite and multiple ground stations as part of the JP9102 program.
Despite this recent cancellation, Canberra said that “Lockheed Martin Australia continues to be a highly valued industry partner, supporting Defence’s requirements for contemporary and future capability demands.”