XTEK awarded $0.8 million in grants to update CNC centre and forming press

XTEK has been awarded two grants from the Department of Defence, totalling $0.8 million.

The ASX-listed defence contractor announced on Tuesday that the grants were through the Defence Global Competitiveness programs and Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority program and valued at $164,268.50 and $658,209.20 respectively.

The DGC-backed project covers investment in a new “CNC Virtual Machining Centre” at the company’s Adelaide site. This would allow for “safer and more complex machining, reducing costs of outsourcing and improved productivity” and speed up prototyping and new product development, as well as assist maintenance.

The SICP grant supports improvements to XTEK’s helmet pre-forming and production and investment in acquiring and commissioning a new custom helmet pre-forming press, allowing a doubling of current output.

The projects will be completed by October 29 this year and May 29, 2024, according to XTEK.

“We are a proud sovereign Australian defence industry manufacturer with a growing global business footprint, said XTEK Group CEO Scott Basham.

“These grants will significantly help us to remain at the forefront of global lightweight and high performance ballistic armour innovation, and importantly to also double the existing production capacity of our unique “rifle rated” Rifle Combat Helmet (RCH), which is now receiving a lot of interest and attention from all around the world.”

XTEK added that a separate, completed project had modified certain key elements of the company’s proprietary “XTclave” composite production, allowing for a 60 per cent increase in yield per helmet cycle.

Picture: XTEK/ballistic combat helmet during manufacture

Further reading

XTEK RECEIVES THIRD URGENT ORDER FOR ARMOUR IN 30 DAYS, CITING “HEIGHTENED GLOBAL SECURITY ENVIRONMENT”

UKRAINE CREATES PERFECT CONDITIONS TO PROVE XTEK COMPOSITES