By Peter Roberts The news was inevitable in a way – the Army has confirmed that it has fired a weapon system at a simulated enemy remotely from an autonomous uncrewed vehicle (see here for full details). The confirmation came in a blandly worded post by the Australian Army on social media that included pictures…
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Alcoa of Australia, the majority owner of Victoria’s Portland Aluminium Smelter, has announced a nine-year agreement with AGL, effective July 2026 and covering half of the power required for the site to run at capacity. According to the announcement on Friday morning, the agreement covers 300 megawatts of power, with Alcoa “pursuing options for the…
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Babcock Australasia has become the latest company to ready itself for work supporting Australia’s deployment to Western Australia and ultimate construction of nuclear powered submarines in Adelaide. Fran Worthington was appointed to the role as inaugural Managing Director, Nuclear and ‘will take charge of Babcock’s contribution to the development of future military nuclear infrastructure and…
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Malware in manufacturing is a bigger problem than many would assume. Here Tony Burnside looks at how cyber criminals leverage the cloud to mount their attacks, and what can be done to protect manufacturing organisations. Most of the headlines around cybercrime and data loss in Australia in recent months – and there have been plenty…
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Industrial technology company Silex Systems has been awarded defence funding support for its development of technology to produce zero spin silicon (ZS-Si) needed to manufacture quantum computing chips. The company has been awarded $5.1 million funding from the Defence Trailblazer for the Concept to Sovereign Capability Program. The Trailblazer is a partnership between the University…
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Technology development company Sparc Technologies has reported positive results from thermal-cycling resistance testing of its ecosparc graphene-enriched coatings. The company, which is also developing green hydrogen production technology, reported significant reduction in cracking when utilising ecosparc compared to coatings without the additive. Previously Sparc has reported significant anti-corrosive enhancements over typical coatings. Sparc general manager…
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Automotive, aerospace and defence manufacturer PWR Holdings has reported record sales and profits in FY23 as it continued its expansions internationally and into new market segments. The manufacturer of specialist radiators for F1 cars reported EBITDA operating profit up 9.2 percent on the previous year to $39.1 million, on revenue up 17.1 percent to $118.3…
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Poultry, food service and food manufacturer Inghams Group has reported a strong profit increase for FY23 on flat volumes as it continues its recovery from supply chain disruptions and sharply rising input costs. The company reported EBITDA of $418.5 million, up 13 percent on the previous year and net profit after tax (NPAT) of $60.4…
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Porsche-backed electrofuels company HIF Global is progressing its planned 100 million litre per year facility in north-west Tasmania, with the state government announcing HIF had selected Technip Energies to help assess technology options and initiate plant design. In a statement on Thursday, Tasmania’s energy minister Guy Barnett claimed the news as “a further sign” the…
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The number of students enrolled in nationally recognised vocational education and training (VET) courses increased by 5.1 percent to 4.5 million between 2021 and 202, according to the latest data from the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). Most of the increase can be attributed to significant rises in domestic and international fee-for-service subject…
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