The Department of Defence, in collaboration with Accenture, has successfully completed a major milestone in the migration of the Department's primary data centre to a new facility in Sydney, a core outcome of the Data Centre Migration project.

In response to assistance sought in the rising flood situation in Queensland the ADF has stood up a Joint Task Force 637 under the command of Brigadier Greg Bilton, Commander of 7 Brigade and four Army Black Hawk aircraft and crews from Townsville.

A summary of the latest news and views in the defence industry, locally and overseas. Check out our webpage for daily news updates on the ADM home page and make sure you bookmark/RSS this for a regular visit.

The Littoral Combat Ship's mission packages are marching toward reaching initial operational capability next year and are performing well despite some glitches with individual components that were highlighted in a recent report by the Pentagon's top tester, LCS officials said last week.

A ceremony was held for the maiden flight of the first NH90 to be assembled by Eurocopter Espana at its facility in Albacete.

Rheinmetall Group has received a follow-up order to supply some 700 high-performance sensors for an identical number of weapon stations destined for a variety of vehicles that will significantly enhance the self-defence capabilities of numerous different vehicles.

The Iveco - Oto Melara Consortium and the Land Armament Directorate of the Italian Ministry of Defense have presented the new amphibious armoured vehicle Veicolo Blindato Anfibio, the latest of the famous Centauro Family.

The US Air Force and prime contractor Lockheed Martin have launched the first official class of F-35A student pilots through their flight training program at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, a long-awaited milestone for the Joint Strike Fighter program.

The F-35 Joint Program Office has temporarily grounded the short take-off and vertical landing F-35B variant following a problem with the fueldraulic system on one aircraft on January 18.

The UK Ministry of Defence has confirmed its order for the next prototype stage of development of a revolutionary high performance, lightweight diesel engine intended for marine outboard applications on the fast, rigid inflatable boats used by the Royal Navy (also used by the RAN).

Satellite payload developer ITT Exelis is working with the USAF Research Lab to shrink the size of the Global Positioning System's navigation payload - an effort to make it more efficient to manufacture and launch.

Elbit Systems has received an approximately US$35 million contract from the Israel Ministry of Defense for the development of advanced features for Unmanned Aircraft Systems to be supplied within three years.

The first Wildcat attack helicopter to be delivered to the Royal Navy has successfully completed its first flight at Yeovil in Somerset on January 28, 2013.

Eurocopter has delivered another strong performance in 2012, with an all-time record turnover of EU$6.3 billion.

The full version of Defence Week Premium no.237 of 24 January 2013 can be downloaded here as a PDF. A separate PDF of the latest Defence tenders can also be downloaded here.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has outlined an updated security statement, Strong and Secure: A Strategy for Australia's National Security in a speech yesterday, January 23.