Page 18 - Australian Defence Magazine Dec21-Jan22

18 DEFENCE BUSINESS SPACE SUMMIT
DECEMBER 2021-JANUARY 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
DEVELOPING
THE AUSTRALIAN
SPACE SECTOR
With the lifting of travel restrictions between some state borders live events are back on everyone’s calendar again, kicking off with the third annual ADM Space Summit.
NIGEL PITTAWAY | CANBERRA
THE event was held at the Hyatt Hotel in Canberra on 24 November and was the largest so far, with around 220 del- egates attending in person and more tuning in to the live video stream.
Sponsored by gold sponsors L3 Harris and Lockheed Martin Australia; silver sponsor EOS Space Systems, and other sponsors Inmarsat and Northrop Grumman, the summit was chaired by CEO of the Space Industry Associa- tion of Australia James Brown and Noel Borgas, Campaign Manager, Lockheed Martin Australia.
Speakers included representatives from the Australian Space Agency, Defence and the space industry. Several themes ran through the various presentations including
and creating an additional 20,000 new jobs by 2030. “We are the front door for Australia’s international engagement on civil space. The ‘Advancing Space’ strategy sets out a ten-year plan to ensure that Australian space industry se- cures a bigger share of global space,” he said.
Noting the close synergies between the space sector and Defence, Hewett said a 2015 study found that 72 per cent of Australian space companies also had Defence as a cus- tomer. “This demonstrates the very clear overlap between defence needs and civil space needs,” he explained. “It has been very exciting to watch the development of the Space Division, under Air Vice-Marshal Cath Roberts, and equal- ly exciting to see the large profile that space was afforded in the 2020 Defence Strategic Update. The planned invest- ments described in the DSU that will be realised in the latter 2020s and into the 2030s represent very substantial investment opportunities for an Australian industry.”
DEFENCE AND SPACE
The Defence view of space was delivered in entertaining back-to-back presentations from Air Commodores Phil Gor- don and Nick Hogan. Formerly Director General - Air De- fence and Space, AIRCDRE Gordon has recently become DG - Integrated Air and Missile Defence (DG – IAMD), handing over to AIRCDRE Hogan, who in turn becomes DG - Space Domain Review.
AIRCDRE Gordon’s presentation was on the subject of
“THE FIRST SHOTS OF THE NEXT WAR WILL BE IN SPACE AND CYBER, AND SO WE’D BETTER BE PREPARED FOR THAT”
warnings the worsening strategic situ- ation may mean programs like JP9102, JP9360 and DEF799 are too far away from delivering capability when Aus- tralia may need it, and the urgent need to develop a sovereign responsive launch capability.
“We have a number of speakers who are making the decisions that will shape the agenda of defence space in Australia in the coming months and years,” James Brown told delegates.
“Defence is hungry for good ideas; they’re listening and they want to work collaboratively with industry. They are looking at announcing in the near future what Defence’s priorities will be for space and what they think our national Defence space structure will look like.”
AUSTRALIAN SPACE AGENCY
The first keynote speaker was Chris Hewett, General Man- ager of Strategy and Industry Growth for the Australian Space Agency (ASA), who provided insight into how the organisation views the current Australian space industry.
Hewett noted the ASA’s purpose was to grow a globally respected local space industry, tripling its size to $12 billion
ADM ROYA GHODSI