Defence think tank the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has revealed that Ukraine is to purchase 300 Australian-made DefendTex Drone40s – a system not yet procured in quantity by Australia’s defence forces. ASPI reported a podcast with Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko in which he said that Ukraine had been searching for systens useful…
Gippsland, Victoria based DefendTex will use $3 million in Cooperative Research Centre Program funding announced last week to scale up its successful demonstration 3D printing of small-scale rocket motors. The demonstration, funded by an earlier CRC grant, will be scaled in a three year project to produce Australia’s first 3D printed rocket boosters in modular…
The Australian designed and manufactured DefendTex Drone40 (D40) is being used operationally in Mali according to media reports. The drone, only four centimetres long and launched either by hand or from a grenade launcher, has been deployed with the British Army’s contingent on Operation Newcombe, according to Overt Defense. Several hundreds Drone40s are believed to…
IDT Australia to raise $7 million for mRNA vaccine production Pharmaceutical manufacturer IDT Australia is to raise $7 million a fully underwritten entitlement offer of fully paid ordinary shares to eligible shareholders. The funds raised will be used to fund capital expenditure relating to current and potential future works in the mRNA therapeutics field including…
Aerial drones will be testsed as part of a federal government initiative aimed at supporting innovation and delivering capabilities for the Australian Defence Force (ADF). A total of 11 companies have signed contracts to provide a prototype of a drone, known as an uncrewed aerial system (UAS), for demonstration in April along with a production…
$58.6 million in grants for nine projects under the defence industry priority for the Modern Manufacturing Initiative have been announced which will further support Boeing Australia’s manufacture of its MQ-28A Ghost Bat autonomous jet aircraft, formerly known as Loyal Wingman. Campaigning in Queensland the Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that $34 million under the initiative’s…
A second round of contracts through the Defence Innovation Hub this week has been announced, with nine companies awarded $19 million on Thursday to develop new technologies for use by the Australian Defence Force.
The Defence Innovation Hub will seek submissions that aim to strengthen defence capabilities in guided weapons and explosive ordnance, integrated air and missile defence, and undersea warfare. In a statement on Thursday, the federal government named the three areas as of an immediate strategic importance to defence, and which would be a focus for government…
The federal government is trumpeting forward spending commitment’s for defence passing the $300 billion mark, following the release of the Defence Innovation Hub’s latest contracts. While there are question marks over the future affordability of this outlay, it represents a massive push to replace a huge range of defence equipment since the coalition came to…
Composites production can be slow, labour-intensive and poorly-suited to complex shapes. Brent Balinski spoke to Tristan Alexander from TST, which is commercialising a process to change that.
