Shaping the next generation of defence solutions is an expedition of the greatest importance, to our customers, our industry partners, and to us. Lockheed Martin Australia is committed to investing in and growing Australia’s sovereign industry capability to help deliver major programs and systems for Australia’s national security.

Partnership is at the core of how we work with government, academia and industry to develop innovative solutions required for programs like AIR6500 and the Sovereign Guided Weapons Enterprise. Just as the name Endeavour courses through the history of exploration, the Lockheed Martin Australia Endeavour Centre is designed for customers, industry and academia to embark on partnerships of discovery and overcome challenges together.

First opened in 2018, the Lockheed Martin Australia Endeavour Centre was purpose-designed as a facility that would ‘enhance the experience for partners to engage, explore, test, conceptualise and problem solve through innovation and enterprise’. Fast forward to 2022, Lockheed Martin’s significant $10M investment has seen the Endeavour Centre transform into a state-of-the-art operational testbed for 21st Century Security, representing a quantum leap in operational analysis capability.

A secure facility, the Endeavour Centre has hosted nearly 100 events since 2019, including multiple Integrated Air and Missile Defence industry demonstrations, R&D thought leadership presentations and customer engagements, including the Maritime Environment Working Group. The Centre has also hosted the Lockheed Martin Code Quest Australia programming competition for high school students, and the Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge for university students from Australia and overseas.

The Endeavour Centre is equipped with onsite software suites that integrate battlespace simulation applications like Advanced Simulation Combat Operations Trainer and Command PE with Prepar3D powered flight simulators in an all-domain synthetic environment. This merger creates immersive virtual and constructive environments to support demonstrations and operations analysis for programs such as AIR6500 Joint Battle Management and Integrated Air and Missile Defence System.

Located at the company’s Australian headquarters in Canberra, the 1,150 m² Endeavour Centre was custom designed and built by Exposure Group, a small to medium Australian enterprise. The Centre features more than 550 m² of reconfigurable demonstration space focused on product demonstrations.

The centerpiece of the demonstration area is a 14 m² rectangular LED video wall – roughly the size of a dozen 65” televisions stacked 2 high – with a 60-seat presentation space. The demonstration area also includes:

• an 8-person “Command Centre of the Future” for delivering advanced command and control concepts
• a 4-person deployed operations cabin for replicating Australian Defence Force (ADF) operations
• a scaled model of an ADF Hawkei light tactical vehicle with two functional rear operator positions for experimenting with innovative concepts for fielding advanced technologies
• 2 F-35 Lightning II fighter jet simulators
• 2 MH-60R maritime helicopter simulators

The Centre also includes a separate collaboration area to facilitate concept development discussions. This area includes audio-visual equipped conference and break-out rooms and reconfigurable space for conducting joint tabletop exercises, workshops, experimentation, wargaming and other decision-making drills.

The technology backbone of the Endeavour Centre facilitates opportunities for Defence and industry partners to connect and collaborate with our global innovation ecosystem, from STELaRLab in Melbourne to our laboratories in the United States, such as The Lighthouse and the Innovation Demonstration Center.

The Centre regularly serves as the demonstration venue for the STELaRLab’s bi-annual Technology Showcase, as well as for innovative R&D concepts and prototype technologies the lab develops for Defence programs.

By harnessing the power of partnership and Australian ingenuity, the Endeavour Centre has, and will continue to play a key role in the pursuit of Australia’s future national security endeavours by Australians for all Australians.