Australian university students protest "ethically dubious" U.S. missile lab

Students at Australia's most prestigious university are protesting a new laboratory for a United States missile manufacturer.

The student union at the University of Melbourne said a collaboration between Lockheed Martin, one of the largest suppliers of missiles and war planes to the U.S. and the university's Defence Science Institute (DSI) was "unethical."

Tyson Holloway-Clarke, president of the student union, said by approving the lab the university was "endorsing, and being complicit in this technology which could lead to death and the destruction of property."

"We oppose violence," Holloway-Clarke told Fairfax Media in comments published on Tuesday. "We are ideologically opposed to this partnership. It's ethically dubious."

Holloway-Clarke said students were not consulted on whether the lab would be built and he is now writing to state and federal governments to bring the issue to light.

Research at the new lab, Lockheed Martin's first outside the U.S., will focus on developing computer software to direct missile attacks, hypersonic flights, robotics, intelligence and surveillance.

Lockheed Martin promised that the 10 million U.S. dollars STELaR Lab would create 20 research jobs for science and technology graduates from the university.

A spokesperson for the company told Fairfax that the location of lab did not represent a partnership with any university and it was a "independent world-class multidisciplinary research facility."

"Lockheed Martin laboratories operate on the frontline of applied research and development, and have been responsible for many advanced technology breakthroughs. It is our vision that STELaR Lab will add to that unparalleled legacy of technological excellence, and contribute to the advancement of human knowledge," the spokesman said.

A university spokeswoman said that the university's research relationships were established after a "full and considered review of the opportunities and outcomes they provide for the University's staff and students."

The lab is planned to open in early 2017. Endit