PERTH, Western Australia - LatConnect 60 (LC60) is executing on a multi-geography industrial plan to accelerate its SWIRSAT constellation, anchoring core technology development and payload manufacturing in Western Australia while expanding its manufacturing presence in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates as additional locations for broader spacecraft production. SWIRSAT is supported by the Australian Space Agency and the Western Australian Government, with the first two SWIRSAT missions launching to orbit in Q1 2027 and a near term constellation expansion plan to 18-satellites.

Perth will remain LC60’s principal manufacturing, intellectual-property creation and research-and-development hub. The company plans to use its facility with Edith Cowan University for optical payload engineering, cleanroom assembly, calibration, qualification and spacecraft integration, alongside work on onboard AI, data processing, ground systems and defence-relevant intelligence applications. LC60’s Australian establishment targets a repeatable production capability supporting a very high-resolution ShortWave InfraRed (SWIR) payload builds through 2029 for over 18 satellites, with over 40 new direct positions expected in Western Australia by the end of that period.

The SWIR imaging payload is the mission-defining technology within LC60’s constellation and will be manufactured, assembled and tested exclusively in Western Australia. LC60 is developing its upcoming sensors as a standardised, spacecraft-bus-agnostic design, allowing integration with different buses or hosted-payload missions.

LC60 is helping to shape Western Australian government’s proposed defence manufacturing hub, with a focus on space technology to expand its capacity as production volume increases.

Through LC60’s on-going partnership with Malaysia’s Pahang Aerospace City and its Space City Asia precinct, LC60 is securing up to 200 acres for satellite-bus production, component manufacturing and potential spacecraft assembly, integration and testing. LC60 will harness Malaysia’s established strengths in semiconductors, electronics, composites and cost-effective industrial production.

LC60 also established a wholly owned Abu Dhabi subsidiary in 2025 to align with the UAE’s national space, AI and advanced-manufacturing ambitions. Activities include Gulf-based spacecraft subsystem development as well as onboard AI processing hardware capabilities for future SWIRSAT satellites.

LC60 has since established partnerships with Space42 and other UAE defense and space organisations. Its agreement with Space42 combines satellite datasets and analytics platforms, including a pathway to integrate SWIRSAT data into Space42’s AI-powered geospatial intelligence environment. UAE engagement is intended to deploy and scale Western Australian-developed technology internationally particularly in support of Australia’s allies in the Gulf region.

Together, the three-hub manufacturing footprint is designed to expand SWIRSAT into a globally scaled constellation created and controlled in Western Australia, with industrialisation support through Malaysia and the UAE to serve Australian, Indo-Pacific and Gulf markets.