Ministers break silence on satellite saga
Written by admin on November 5, 2024
Key ministers have broken their silence on a major decision involving a $7bn defence satellite contract, insisting it is not a “cancellation” per say but a pivot in strategy.
The Albanese government came under fire from the opposition amid reports it had scrapped the communications satellite contract with Lockheed Martin known as JP9102.
Coalition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie blasted the reported move as “disgraceful”, but federal ministers Richard Marles and Matt Keogh on Tuesday denied the project was being axed.
“Well, it’s not a cancellation, it’s really a change of direction in terms of how we deliver the capability for our communications network in defence,” Mr Marles told the ABC.
He said the world had “evolved” since the original plan was concocted almost a decade ago.
“Since then, we’ve seen technologies develop which can literally shoot satellites out of the sky,” Mr Marles said.
“But we’ve also seen technologies develop where you have thousands of micro satellites in a much more distributed way providing the same effect. And we’re seeing that, for example, with Starlink above Ukraine.”
He said Australia needed to make sure it was pursuing “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”.
“So, this is frankly moving with the times and making sure that we have the capability that we need which meets the threats and the opportunities that we have in the future,” Mr Marles said.
Earlier, Defence Personnel Minister Matt Keogh said Australia was moving towards a “mesh-type arrangement” as opposed to the five or so satellites originally under JP9102.
“We do need to make sure that our Defence Force has access to the most up-to-date technology and the most resilient technology and that’s important, and so the program that you’ve just referred to involved a small number of satellites that does mean it had a vulnerability,” Mr Keogh told the ABC.
“We’re looking at moving to more of a mesh-type arrangement of satellites which provides greater resilience with a more up-to-date technology and we’ll be able to deliver that technology faster as well.”
