Canberra-based Penten Services has been awarded two contracts totalling $2.2 million through the Defence Innovation Hub to bolster the Australian Army’s cyber capabilities.

The award will see Penten develop new technologies to enhance Army’s ability to send communications over unsecured networks by monitoring network traffic and mitigating attacks on its network. It was announced by new Minister for Defence Industry, Melissa Price who said funding would also be provided to help Army develop a cyber-management capability and enhance security countermeasures.

“Innovation is critical to build and sustain the Australian Defence Force’s capability edge,” she said in a statement. “Australia benefits from an industrial base of many agile small to medium enterprises like Penten.”

Penten was established in 2015 and has grown from four to more than 50 employees. The two contracts were selected as part of Army Innovation Day 2018 which called for innovative solutions for the next generation Army.