Manufacturing news briefs – stories you might have missed

Skykraft successfully tests aviation monitoring small satellites Skykraft has successfully completed vibration and thermal testing of one of its Block II constellation spacecraft (pictured) at Vipac Engineers & Scientists. The Australian developed and manufactured smallsats will replace ground-based infrastructure for Air Traffic Management with space-based systems, for both surveillance and communication services. Built in Skykraft’s…

H2X and KTM Technologies to develop novel hydrogen vehicle chassis

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle manufacturer H2X Global will work with mobility technology group KTM Technologies to develop a modular, lightweight vehicle chassis system for hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles including electric cars, trucks and buses. H2X recently announced it will build its long awaited hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in Gippsland, Victoria while KTM Technologies…

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A reminder to members of the Australian Manufacturing Forum and readers of @AuManufacturing news and media. Our daily news stories and features and group discussions can now be followed via: The Australian Manufacturing Forum Linkedin group @AuManufacturing news website and three-times weekly newsletter The @AuManufacturing Linkedin company page @AuManufacturing on Twitter And Google news feed…

Pure Hydrogen partners for hydrogen waste truck bodies

Hydrogen, gas and mobility business Pure Hydrogen has entered into a preferred supplier agreement with Bucher Municipal Pty Ltd for the supply of waste collection truck bodies for fitting to its hydrogen powered vehicles. The vehicles are planned for a trial underway with domestic waste collector JJ’s Waste & Recycling of Australia’s first-ever hydrogen fuelled…

Northrop Grumman links with IntelliDesign for manufacture

Northrop Grumman Australia has linked with local electronics engineering company IntelliDesign for hardware design services and contract manufacturing of communications devices. IntelliDesign will work on Northrop Grumman’s Secure Communications Solution (SCS) devices – the SCS-200 capability – which provides simple, secure network access for deployed teams and individuals working for defence and the Department of…

NIOA in multi-million dollar ADF weapons project

Queensland-based munitions manufacturer NIOA has been selected to deliver the first stage of a major weapons upgrade for the Australian Defence Force. Defence minister Peter Dutton said Tranche 1 of the LAND 159 Lethality System would equip Australia’s soldiers, sailors and aviators with next-generation mission systems, surveillance and target acquisitions ancillaries, ammunitions, facilities and training…

Austal opens US$100 million steel shipbuilding yard

Perth international shipbuilder Austal has opened the company’s new state-of-the-art steel shipbuilding facility in Mobile, Alabama (pictured), enabling the simultaneous production of both aluminium and steel hulled ships. The first vessels to be built in the new steel facility will be two Navajo-class Towing, Salvage, and Rescue Ships (T-ATS) for the United States Navy, which…

The cost of offshoring now being paid – by John Broadbent

By John Broadbent Do you remember when some Australian manufacturers off-shored their production to lower-cost labour countries, mostly in SE Asia? In most cases, the labour issue was because the equipment on which they worked was ancient history, a relic, fully-depreciated and being sweated so much, it was dripping. Rather than use the depreciation tax…