Lockheed Martin Australia Advanced Systems and Technologies (AST) (formally STELaRLab) is Lockheed Martin’s first and most advanced multidisciplinary R&D facility located outside the United States.

AST partners with Defence and its supporting innovation community to accelerate the conceptualisation, development, and transition of new sovereign capabilities to the mission of defending Australia and its national interests.

With 57 Australians employed across Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra and Brisbane, AST partners with higher education institutions by supporting R&D and offering scholarships, internships and graduate positions for highly-skilled Australians – boosting defence and STEM-based workforces.

Our Expertise

AST staff are all Australian nationals and have extensive Defence R&D experience in key areas such as electronic warfare, hypersonics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, space-based geospatial intelligence and measurement and signature intelligence, operational analysis, complex analytics, mission system and battle management system development, and detection, tracking and sensor fusion.

Technology and Innovation Partnering

• AST is the foundation industry partner to the Australian Institute for Machine Learning at the University of Adelaide (ranked #3 in the world for computer vision R&D)
• AST has multiple programs with the Concept to Capability Defence Trailblazer (University of Adelaide and University of New South Wales) funding programs in hypersonics, space systems, and AI.
• AST collaborates closely with the University of Queensland, Australia’s premier research University in hypersonics, and has staff embedded in the UQ programs.

• Lockheed Martin Australia’s national R&D operations centre.
• Lockheed Martin’s first multi-disciplinary R&D facility outside the United States.
• Extensive experience in Defence and intelligence R&D, and specialised operational support.
• Investing in Australia’s future through university R&D, Honours, Masters, and PhD sponsorships.
• Developing sovereign capabilities for Australia’s 21st century security needs.
• Exporting advanced capabilities to the nation’s allies