The USAF Research Laboratory (AFRL) has announced it will open a scientific research facility in Melbourne in conjunction with the Defence Science and Technology (DST) Group.

The office will be part of the Asian Office of Aerospace Research and Development (AOARD), which the AFRL says promotes science and scientific interchange across the region by generating and monitoring contracts and grants between the USAF and overseas research and development organizations. It will be a branch of the International Science Division of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The Air Force Office of Scientific Research also has offices in London and in Santiago, Chile, and has plans for an office in Brazil.

The AOARD headquarters office is located in Tokyo, and also has US Army and US Navy personnel in its ranks. In a November 1 AFRL release, AOARD director. Jermont Chen said Australia and AOARD have a strong history of cooperation on scientific research.

“They’re excellent partners in combustion, hypersonics, aerospace, quantum—pretty much everything,” Chen said. “The purpose is to cross-pollinate and to leverage each other. They can leverage our funding, and we can leverage their knowledge of the area and focus on our [mutual] goals.”

The AFRL says two researchers have been hired for the new office, but an opening date is yet to be set due to ongoing COVID-19 impacts.