"There's no more cost that gets added to the program outside that one design zone change, therefore when you consider that as a value for money, it avoids having to complete a brand-new design from ground up," Craig Lockhart of BAE Systems Australia said.
After a successful "ePrototype," company is building a full-scale prototype of STRIX and "propulsion testing has taken place on a static rig at our Henderson shipyard in Western Australia," BAE Systems Australia said.
The MQ-9B and Gambit Series represent parallel capabilities that address global challenges for security head-on.
"Not only does the Williamtown stealth-coating facility provide Australia with a valuable sovereign capability and cut down on cumbersome timelines for sustaining Australian F-35s in the United States, it will also serve as a second source of service for US aircraft in the region," analyst Ashley Townshend told Breaking Defense.