Nichols Martin
Australia’s defense department has awarded $4.6 million in contracts to three companies and two universities to develop multiple technology platforms for the Australian military.
The department said Friday that L3 Technologies‘ Oceania subsidiary aims to create an underwater acoustic sensor for maritime applications under a $2.3 million contract.
Agent Oriented Software received a $295,000 contract to study the resiliency of autonomous teamed intelligent software against cyber attacks, while Explosive Protective Equipment secured a $189,000 contract to examine the potential of an amulet ground penetrating radar technology to detect improvised explosive devices from an unmanned ground vehicle.
Under a $1.7 million contract, the University of Newcastle in New South Wales will work to produce a virtual reality-based resilience training platform for Australian defense forces to train how to conduct operations in adverse environments.
Griffith University in Queensland landed a nearly $143,000 contract to develop a portable device that will work to detect airborne biological threats in real time.
Christopher Pyne, Australian minister for defense industry, said the department has invested $15.6 million in technology development contracts since the inception of its defense innovation hub in late 2016.
