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XTEK confirmed that the company had received a $1.9 million purchase order from the Department of Defence for spare small unmanned aerial system (SUAS) parts used as part of the LAND 129-4A program.
Scott Basham, chief executive of XTEK, explained that the company has been supporting Defence’s SUAS program for half a decade.
“This follow on order for almost $2 million of SUAS spare parts to XTEK from the Commonwealth, is part of the ongoing Support Contract we have with Defence for the LAND 129 Phase 4A project,” Basham said.
“XTEK is the prime systems integrator for this project, and we have been supporting Defence for the last five years, providing high-end technical maintenance, support, and repairs to the SUAS fleet, as well as other important Defence equipment fleets such as EOD robots.
“These spare parts, which will be held in our state-of-the-art SUAS repair facility in Canberra, will be used to keep important operational UAV capabilities in the air for Defence.”
The announcement comes as the company signed two memoranda of understanding with Queensland’s Athena Artificial Intelligence (Athena AI) and Estonian Milrem Robotics to expand their AI capabilities.
Signed in June, the MoUs are expected to support the design and development of AI-enabled autonomous systems.
According to the company, preliminary integrations had been underway by the time the MoUs were announced.
Athena AI is expected to utilise its target recognition, geospatial analysis and machine learning decision technology as part of the agreement.
Meanwhile, the MoU with Milrem Robotics aims to support the development of a composite material ballistic armour solution for Milrem Robotics’ THeMIS unmanned ground vehicle.
[Related: XTEK teams up with Athena AI, Milrem]
