Melbourne-based Adacel Technologies will supply speech recognition software systems for the $US200bn global Joint Strike Fighter program.
"This is a significant achievement for Adacel, with the potential to generate work during the production phases of the program in which more than 4500 of the multi-role stealth fighters are expected to be manufactured" Defence Minister Robert Hill and Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said on Friday.
Under a Memorandum of Agreement signed with JSF prime contractor Lockheed Martin, Adacel will develop a speech-enabled cockpit control system as part of the 10-year system development and demonstration phase of the JSF program.
"Speech-controlled cockpit functions are a new feature for fighter aircraft and are expected to give pilots the ability to control critical mission systems such as radars and radios without having to move their hands from the controls" the Ministers said.
Adacel is headquartered in Melbourne, with offices in Sydney, Canberra, and Albury-Wodonga. It employs over 430 staff, primarily software and systems engineering professionals. Adacel established an office in the US in 1988 and has since expanded with operations in Montreal, Orlando, Los Angeles, Washington and the UK. The JSF work will be undertaken in Melbourne and Sydney.
To date 11 Australian companies have won work on the JSF program.