Excellence in maritime manufacturing – the view of the Indian Ocean from WA

Today @AuManufacturing’s editorial series Excellence in maritime manufacturing turns to the Indian Ocean, where Serge DeSilva-Ranasinghe and CDRE Brett Dowsing, RAN (Rtd) suggest a maritime Colombo plan as a contribution to regional security. From a defence and security perspective, the Indian Ocean region is a zone that has significant untapped potential, yet in many ways Australia’s…

Election 22 the real issues – bring manufacturing back by Senator Rex Patrick

@AuManufacturing’s occasional editorial series on the real issues in the 2022 federal election continues today with a call by Senator Rex Patrick to rebuild manufacturing. Over the past 50 years manufacturing in Australia has steadily declined, ensuring we have an economy that’s now over-reliant on raw materials and commodities. Over those five decades there’s been…

BAE Systems Australia secures $50m guided weapons export contract

BAE Systems Australia has announced it has secured a $50 million export contract to deliver critical hardware and software sub-assemblies into the global Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) programme. BAE Systems provides critical elements of Nato’s ESSM including locally developed launch sequence software and systems, with this contract a fillip to a network of Australian…

Labor shows its love for Adelaide’s factory of the future

The federal Labor party has again shown its support for the ‘factory of the future’ concept being developed by Flinders University in Adelaide’s Tonsley innovation precinct with a renewed pledge of funding support. Labor has long supported efforts by Flinders’ Australian Industrial Transformation Institute which has established a campus amongst the innovative businesses housed in…

Election 22 the real issues – towards a circular economy by Göran Roos

@AuManufacturing’s occasional editorial series on the real issues in the 2022 federal election turns to a circular economy. In this excerpt from a paper by Professor Göran Roos, he outlines the challenges ahead as we make the desirable move towards a more sustainable future. The desirable move towards a more sustainable future has recently taken…

Carbon revolution grant shows the absurdity in Canberra’s daily cash giveaways

Comment by Peter Roberts I hate to say this, but a $12 million Modern Manufacturing Initiative grant to help carbon fibre wheel manufacturer Carbon Revolution build its first Mega production line just announced has shown the absurdity, and the needless cost of federal government grant schemes. I hate to say this because I am a…

Electro Optic Systems qualifies laser weapon

Defence, space and telecommunications manufacturer Electro Optic Systems has successfully qualified its directed energy (DE) or laser weapon system to identify and attack drone aircraft. The company’s Titanis system, which has until now been able to engage targets using machine guns, cannon or missiles, has been equipped with a ‘powerful laser’ and has disabled Group…