Commitment

Working with government, industry, academia and the community to Define Possible in Australia.

Northrop Grumman Australia male employee working with female teammate on military aircraft

NGC Australia Capabilities Commitment Careers

Fostering Sovereign Capability

Northrop Grumman Australia is building sovereign capability; backing home-grown innovation, partnering with small to medium enterprises and academia, and investing in Australia’s future. From Skilling and STEM to Supply Chain, we are fostering sovereign capability and the people who make it possible.

Over the last two decades, Northrop Grumman Australia has grown to become a trusted provider to Australia’s national security sector. We have evolved and matured as an Australian business, driven by our strategy and underpinned by Our Values: We do the right thing, we do what we promise, we commit to shared success and we pioneer. Our Values are at the core of Northrop Grumman Australia’s strategy and operations, and crucial to our role in building Australian Industry Capability (AIC).

Supply chain and Industry Partners

We understand the importance of our local partners in working with us to deliver sovereign capability to our customer. Northrop Grumman adopts a targeted approach to our partner engagements with a view to creating sustainable capabilities in Australia through long term relationships in complimentary spaces. This approach includes a focus on Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) wherever feasible. Over the past three years alone, Northrop Grumman has invested approximately $650 million in Australian industry, creating jobs across 506 Australian suppliers of which, 368 are SMEs.

Importantly, while focusing on industry, we are embedding and aligning our academic engagements, enhancing opportunities for technology transfers and cross program engagements so we can not only build capability and resilience within the supply chain, but sustain, mature and grow it to establish genuine sovereign capabilities in Australia long term. Since 2017 Northrop Grumman has invested in excess of $2.8 million in research, charities, sponsorships, scholarships and social programs across Australia.

Through our Global Supply Chain Agreement, signed with the Australian Department of Defence in 2011, Northrop Grumman is identifying opportunities for Australian industry to compete within the company’s global supply chain. Over $330 million of opportunities have been realised for Small to Medium Enterprises over the last five years. Supporting supply chain resilience, building sovereign industrial capability and creating export opportunities is a fundamental tenet of Northrop Grumman Australia’s AIC approach.

Providing some of the world’s most advanced products and services to the US Government and 25 other countries globally, Northrop Grumman’s global supply chain offers significant growth opportunities for Australian businesses.

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Investments and Economic Contribution

We are committed to investing in jobs, partnerships and suppliers across Australia. Spending over $1 billion in the Australian economy and supporting almost 1,500 jobs, Northrop Grumman Australia makes significant direct and indirect contributions to the economy as outlined in the recent KPMG report. Our workforce is also growing rapidly, with Northrop Grumman Australia’s employment footprint increasing by 40% in recent years.

Northrop Grumman Australia is committed to developing sovereign capability, through investments such as the new $20 million state-of-the-art systems integration, advanced mission visualisation and demonstration facility, Parallax Labs. Bringing together a distributed systems and software development, integration and test environment with cutting-edge mission visualisation and demonstration capabilities, Parallax Labs represents a critical component of how Northrop Grumman Australia can support projects with complex system architectures and highly integrated technologies. Importantly, it also serves to facilitate the transfer of technology, collaboration and the development of Australian critical technology skills that will benefit Australia’s defence industry now and into the future.

Our newly-modernised Brisbane Maintenance and Modification Centre (BMMC) has been the subject of an additional $20 million investment by Northrop Grumman Australia. The BMMC is now a state of the art $50 million facility located at Brisbane Airport, providing support and maintenance to the RAAF’s KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft. The modernisation project created 300 local jobs, and directly engaged over 500 people. Continuous through life support work will involve an ongoing workforce of around 100 employees, with the infrastructure capacity for a significant expansion as required for future sustainment work.

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Close up of hand working on circuit board

Innovation

Northrop Grumman Australia has an enviable record of investing in research and development across a number of leading Australian universities. We provide funding and expertise for research across a range of capabilities including space launch systems, artificial intelligence and machine learning, hypersonics, and quantum communications.

Northrop Grumman Australia is an industry partner in the $370 million Trailblazer Universities Program, an Australian government initiative to build new research capabilities, drive commercialisation outcomes and invest in new industry engagements. Specifically, we are establishing projects under the Defence Trailblazer: Concept to Sovereign Capability program that is led by the University of Adelaide and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) as well as the iLAuNCH Trailblazer program that is led by the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ), Australian National University (ANU) and the University of South Australia (UniSA). All projects are expertly supported by the state-of-the-art capabilities in Northrop Grumman Australia’s Parallax Labs.

By investing in Australia’s defence research pipeline across all stages of technology readiness, Northrop Grumman Australia is facilitating the innovations necessary to advance a more capable sovereign defence industry.

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Skilling and STEM

Northrop Grumman Australia is collaborating to build an experienced and innovative workforce with the right skills and knowledge, at the right time, in the right place. It is an exciting time for defence industry as we look to deliver complex, innovative and world-leading technology solutions for our customers, but to deliver this we will need a motivated and skilled workforce. To achieve this Northrop Grumman is developing Australia’s talent pipeline by adopting a whole of education and skilling approach, from early STEM engagement to university scholarships.

For early-career employees, the Young Professionals Network (YPN) was formed to bring diverse team members together regularly to discuss topical developments in the industry, grow their network, access professional development opportunities and learn from other team members.

The Northrop Grumman Foundation sponsors students and teachers from Australia to attend Space Camp® held at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The Space Camp initiative is focused on providing an opportunity for children and teachers from underrepresented, vulnerable or disadvantaged backgrounds to be exposed to the exciting world of space, including visiting the home of the James Webb Space Telescope.

We believe that diversity directly fosters innovation, so we actively encourage female participation in STEM fields from an early age through practical initiatives like Aviation Australia’s Aerospace Gateway to Industry Schools Program and Female Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (FAME) program.

Northrop Grumman Australia signed an agreement with Engineers Australia to support the professionalisation of its rapidly growing workforce. This arrangement provides Northrop Grumman Australia’s engineering cohort with training and development opportunities to expand their technical expertise and professional networks while supporting their journey to achieving internationally recognised credentials.

Through partnerships with local schools, vocational institutions, universities, government, not-for-profit organisations and industry, Northrop Grumman Australia supports a range of STEM education outreach initiatives and programs, including facility tours, scholarships, internships, awards and competitions. Focusing on critical areas such as aerospace, aircraft sustainment, cyber, artificial intelligence and space, we are proud to be inspiring and developing the next generation of engineers and technologists.

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Reconciliation

Northrop Grumman Australia started our reconciliation journey by developing an innovative Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) to guide our responsibility as an employer in closing the gap in the equity of opportunity for indigenous Australians. Here is our full Second Innovate RAP (2024-2026) which was formally endorsed by Reconciliation Australia in April 2024. Our work spans building employee cultural awareness, recognition of indigenous lands on which we operate our business, academic scholarships and sponsorships and building a pipeline of indigenous SMEs in our Supply Chain.

Committed to the principles of the Commonwealth’s Indigenous Procurement Policy, Northrop Grumman Australia is promoting growth in the indigenous business sector through new supply chain policies, education and awards and the active engagement of indigenous suppliers across a range of services.

We recognise a diverse and talented workforce is a key competitive advantage and believe all children deserve the opportunity to learn and explore. From high school scholarships with Yalari, to supporting the ANU’s National Indigenous Summer School, Northrop Grumman Australia is committed to promoting educational opportunities for all Australian youth.

This artwork by Indigenous artist Chern’ee Sutton represents Northrop Grumman Australia’s commitment to its Reconciliation Action Plan Journey.

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Community

We have partnerships with a range of organisations that share our values, providing support to our community. Importantly, we encourage and empower our employees to make a positive difference in the communities in which they live and work. This is critical in times of need when our people have responded to catastrophic fires and devastating floods. Northrop Grumman has been proud to have supported a range of charities that have been key to recovery from these disastrous events.

Our Employee Resource Groups (ERG) lead a range of initiatives to support causes and issues affecting our community. These include activities to raise employee awareness and understanding of topical issues as well as fundraising in support of important causes.

The Northrop Grumman Women’s International Network (NGWIN) connects employees domestically and internationally by providing forums for connection, knowledge sharing, community outreach and to discuss ongoing strategies for supporting gender diversity in the workplace.

We also connect those early in their careers via our Young Professionals Network (YPN). Members of the YPN meet monthly to unpack development topics tailored towards helping early career individuals navigate workplace and life challenges such as development conversations with leaders, safety in the workplace, mental health, work-life balance and much more.

Northrop Grumman Australia celebrates volunteering and our people are encouraged to access paid leave each year to volunteer for a not-for-profit organisation of their choice. Our teams regularly participate in fitness challenges to raise funds for mental health and veteran support and our employees give their time when a community crisis occurs, such as the recent Australian floods.

Our Defence Veteran community is actively supported to honour their service to our nation, as well as the Defence Forces served in other countries. Through the work by our Past & Present Military Personnel ERG and relationships with Right Management and Legacy, we support veterans within our workforce and those service personnel seeking to transition their careers from ADF service to industry.