Australia cancels Lockheed Martin military satellite project

Australia has cancelled a multi-billion dollar military satellite project with Lockheed Martin, with a Department of Defence statement on Monday saying the military will instead shift its focus to a multi-orbit system. Lockheed Martin Australia was announced as the preferred tenderer last year for the Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellite communications system, in a project that was to deliver Australia’s first sovereign-controlled satellite communication system over the Indo-Pacific ocean regions. The project for a single orbit satellite with Lockheed Martin had been cancelled, the Department of Defence said in a statement on Monday.