Aerospace composite manufacturer Airspeed has successfully completed its first captive carry flight test of a supersonic target prototype onboard its Marchetti S211 R&D platform (pictured). The company, based at Mawson Lakes, Adelaide recently celebrated the project milestone, in a major step towards strengthening Australia’s sovereign aerospace capability. The customised prototype – known as Irukandji –…
New maintenance opportunities will be available to defence industry with the delivery of a new fleet of main battle tanks, with the first cohort of Australian Army soldiers completing training on operations and maintenance at Puckapunyal. Army will have a fleet of 75 of the Abrams M1A2 main battle tanks, with 46 already delivered from…
The federal government has announced a $45 million contract for another 15 Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicles to be built by Thales Australia at Bendigo, Victoria. According to a statement from defence industry minister Pat Conroy on Tuesday, the additional vehicles “will facilitate command and control of Army’s High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) long-range fires…
What were the five biggest stories of the year? Here’s what visitors to this site were reading. 5) Australia’s 50 most innovative manufacturers revealed @AuManufacturing and the Australian Manufacturing Forum’s first quest to identify Australia’s 50 most innovative manufacturers ended in July, and a second iteration of the series kicked off last month. We learned…
The federal government has extended its partnership with Thales Australia to operate and maintain the Captain Cook Graving Dock in Sydney. The continued operation of the graving dock at Garden Island Defence Precinct is vital to the sustainment of the Royal Australian Navy fleet. Thales CEO Jeff Connolly welcomed the move. He said: “The Captain…
The federal government has announced a continuation of Thales Australia’s long standing role maintaining Royal Australian Navy ships with a new $2 billion contract to maintain and sustain Australia’s naval fleet in Sydney. French-owned Thales Australia has been appointed as the Regional Maintenance Provider for the new Regional Maintenance Centre East at Defence’s Garden Island…
What were the five biggest stories of the week? Here’s what visitors to this site were reading. 5) Australian Precision Technologies wins missile contract Precision engineering manufacturer Australian Precision Technologies (APT) has received a contract from Kongsberg Defence Australia to manufacture components for the KONGSBERG Naval Strike Missile (NSM) Launchers to be delivered under Project…
The federal government has announced that it will invest $220 million in munitions production at the Commonwealth-owned factories in Mulwala in New South Wales and Benalla in Victoria. According to a short statement on Friday morning, the investment will support infrastructure redevelopments at each site – ensuring they are equipped to support future production demands,…
BAE Systems Australia turned 70 this month, making it one of Australia’s oldest, largest and fastest growing defence manufacturers. Here Ben Hudson reflects on the contribution of the defence sector in Australia to national security and prosperity. All too often I believe we have made a point of focusing on major programme challenges, without reflecting…
Prime minister Anthony Albanese has pledged a further 30 Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles to Ukraine during the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. According to a statement last night (Australian time), this takes the number of Bushmaster vehicles – built by Thales in Bendigo – pledged to 120. The total of military assistance from Australia since…
