Australia scraps multi-billion dollar military satellite system

Australia has scrapped a satellite communications system being developed for the military, the government announced on Monday.

Lockheed Martin Australia was awarded the tender to build a Defence owned and operated Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellite communications system in 2023.

When the tender was awarded, the government said it was a “multi-billion dollar” project that would deliver Australia’s first sovereign-controlled satellite communication system over the Indo-Pacific ocean regions.

However, the Australian Defence Ministry said “the acceleration in space technologies and evolving threats in space” meant a single orbit GEO-based satellite communications system would no longer meet strategic priorities.

“Instead of a single orbit solution, Defence must instead prioritise a multi-orbit capability increasing resilience for the Australian Defence Force,” the ministry said in a statement.

“This decision allows Defence to prioritise emerging needs, mitigate capability gaps and continue to support our transition to an integrated, focused force.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Australian broadcaster ABC that the country’s defence budget was increasing, but his government was prioritizing its purchases.

“We’re busy prioritising all of our purchases when it comes to defence assets, we’ve got a considerable increase in our defence budget and we’ll make sure all of the decisions that we make are in our national interest,” he said.