The federal government has placed a $30 million order with Queensland-based Craig International Ballistics for body armour that will be used by Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel, including in combat and counter terrorism operations. The contract, which will also create and sustain dozens of jobs, supports local small-and-medium enterprises and a future made in Australia,…
The federal government has signed a $500 million contract with Lockheed Martin Australia to deliver the next phase of the Joint Air Battle Management System that synchronises air and missile defence operations across air, sea and land operations. LMA was named in October as the strategic partner to deliver the project, known as AIR6500, which…
Eight small to medium-sized businesses delivering priority capabilities for Defence will be assisted by federal government grants totalling $3.47 million. The Defence Global Competitiveness and Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority grant programmes help Australian businesses boost manufacturing, harness their expertise and increase jobs. The latest recipients are: QPE Advanced Manufacturing (pictured) will receive $1 million to…
Defence and communications manufacturer Electro Optic Systems has announced new customer orders valued at $24 million. EOS subsidiary EM Solutions has received additional orders worth $19 million, while EOS Space Technologies has won a $5 million contract. EM Solution’s orders include: Follow on orders from a European NATO navy for six King Cobra satellite terminals…
EOS and RICO demonstrate long range autonomous control The Robotic and Autonomous Systems Implementation & Coordination Office (RICO) of the Australian Army and defence contractor Electro Optic Systems have extended the capabilities of the M113 Armoured Personnel Carrier (pictured) into long range autonomous weapons firing. The partners demonstrated the long-range firing capabilities of EOS’ R400…
Laser-based anti-drone system maker AIM Defence has been awarded a $4.9 million contract by the Australian Defence Force (ADF) for a directed energy weapon prototype that will be used in field-based trials. AIM Defence says its counter-drone systems are able to achieve “millimetre target accuracy at a distance of 1 kilometre” and are a tenth…
The Australian Army has joined allies and partners in Project Convergence which is testing and developing networks, robotic and autonomous systems, air defence and strike related systems. Project Convergence is a US-led campaign of learning through experimentation. The project was designed to aggressively advance and integrate technology across all warfighting domains, to overmatch an adversary…
Raytheon Australia has opened a new Centre for Collaboration in southeast Queensland, enabling opportunities for greater collaboration between the defence industry and the Australian Defence Force (ADF), according to the company. The Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy (pictured) officially opened the centre, which marks 25 years of investment by Raytheon Australia in developing secure…
Nanosatellite manufacturer Fleet Space Technologies has demonstrated satellite-enabled Push-to-Talk (PTT) capabilities for the Australian Defence Force – Joint Capabilities Group as part of its ASCEND2LEO programme. The demonstration was enabled on its Centauri-4 satellite in-orbit via remotely delivered software derived from the ‘Beagle’ communications waveform, developed under projects funded by the SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre.…
By Peter Roberts Until now the talk in defence circles has been about the possibility that fewer than the planned nine Hunter class frigates might be built at a new shipyard at Osborne in Adelaide (pictured). This is something that has kept Adelaide manufacturers, already reeling from Australia’s recent on-again, off again submarine policies, awake…
