The federal government will establish a consolidated Commonwealth-owned Defence Precinct at Western Australia’s Henderson shipyard to underpin continuous naval shipbuilding and nuclear submarine maintenance and support in the order of 10,000 well-paid, high-skilled local jobs. The government will make an initial investment of $127 million over three years to progress planning, consultations, preliminary design and…
The federal government is to back construction of a rocket motor manufacturing facility designed to support Australia’s developing capabilities in guided weapons and missile manufacturing. The federal government today called for options from industry to establish a manufacturing complex for what it called a ‘sovereign rocket motor programme’ to make rocket motors, backed by an…
Work has begun on a four-bay hangar for the maintenance of Australian Defence Force’s Boeing 737 variants, with completion scheduled for mid-2026. The a 240-metre long, 60-metre wide, 25-metre high hangar will be used for specialist maintenance on aircraft including the P8-A maritime patrol aircraft and E-7A Wedgetail aircraft. Design and construction of the $200…
The federal government has launched the Schools Pathways Program: Open Competitive Grant Opportunity, designed to raise awareness of defence industry career opportunities involving science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM.) According to a statement from defence industry minister Pat Conroy (pictured) on Tuesday, grant funding valued at over $11 million across 2024-25 and 2025-26 is available.…
The federal government has announced a new Jobs for Subs programme for 200 young workers required for the maintenance of US and UK nuclear submarines in Perth under Submarine Rotational Force – West (SRF-W). The Nuclear-Powered Submarine Graduate, Apprenticeship and Traineeship initiative is a government-funded recruitment and upskilling program for graduates, apprentices and trainees within…
The federal government will contribute up to $850 million in partnership with Kongsberg Defence Australia to manufacture and service missiles at Williamtown near Newcastle. The project, which involves construction of a factory in the Newcastle Airport precinct employing 100, is expected to generate almost $100 million in economic benefits to the local area. The factory…
The federal government has delivered on its promise of more rapid defence decision making, accelerating the manufacture of the Ghost Shark underwater autonomous vehicle for undersea surveillance, reconnaissance and strike at a new factory to be built in Australia. The government has already spent $90 million along with Anduril Industries developing the very large autonomous…
By Peter Roberts Are we witnessing daily the eclipse of the federal Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR) and its minister Ed Husic? I ask this question for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the shuffle of the federal ministry which overlooked Husic while promoting the Assistant Minister for Manufacturing,…
What were the five biggest stories of the week? Here’s what visitors to @AuManufacturing were reading. 5) Civmec and Austal join forces for landing ship bid Engineering firm Civmec and shipbuilder Austal have executed a memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to form a Joint Venture (JV) to submit a proposal to the government to support the project LAND8710…
The federal government will accelerate the build of 18 medium landing craft for the Army’s new littoral fleet at the Henderson shipyard in Perth. The $2 billion project is expected to create 1,100 direct jobs and more than 2,000 indirect jobs, and is part of a programme that will also deliver heavy landing craft as…