Defence and aerospace opportunities and news

November 2, 2022

Defence opportunities 

  • Expressions of interest are invited to participate in the Australian industry delegation to the Vietnam Defence Expo 2022, held in Hanoi, Vietnam from 8-10 December 2022. EOI are invited until 11:59pm AEDT Sunday, 30 October 2022. Submit EOI here.
  • Expressions of interest are now open for the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) to be held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 20 – 24 February 2023. See more information here.

Defence news

  • The Endeavour Foundation is announced as the service provider for the Defence Administrative Assistance Program, allocating $23.7 million over three years to provide people with disabilities opportunities for meaningful work in Defence. See more here. 
  • The Boxer combat reconnaissance vehicle has reached Initial Operational Capability on schedule under Project Land 400 Phase 2. See more here.
  • Chief of the Defence Force General Angus J. Campbell, AO, DSC and Secretary of Defence Greg Moriarty have established the Naval Shipbuilding and Sustainment Group (NSSG). See more here.
  • Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles met with New Zealand’s Defence Minister in Geelong to refresh Australia-NZ Defence dialogue on 17 October 2022. See more here. 

Industry and academia news

  • Swinburne University, in conjunction with industry, has developed new carbon fibre technology nanomaterials to detect structural faults in aerospace systems. See more here. 
  • Sentient Vision Systems, headquartered in Melbourne, rolls out global expansion. The company pioneered the world’s first optical radar, ViDAR (Visual Detection and Ranging) achieving a global track record for its ability to detect small objects on the sea surface over a very wide area. See more information here.  
  • Two Victorian companies, Mackay Consolidated Industries and Able Industries Engineering, will manufacture components for the Redback Infantry Fighting Vehicle if selected for service. See more here.
  • Lockheed Martin Australia (LMA) and STEM Punks launch a landmark education program. The Program will engage a diverse array of students in primary and secondary schools nationally to enable secondary students to advance into areas of need across the Australian space industry. See more here.  
  • Lockhheed Martin Australia is investing $74 million to establish an Australian integrated air and missile defence ecosystem. Its aim is to bring together government, industry and academia to develop further air defence capabilities. See more here. 
  • Nova Systems announced it will deliver sovereign skills training to 2,700 technical professionals through a short course in critical defence capability, covering areas including test and evaluation of complex systems, model-based systems engineering, communications and logistics. See more here.  
  • QinetiQ has reached an agreement to acquire Air Affairs Australia, which provides special mission aircraft training and threat representation products and services to Defence and commercial customers. See more here. 
  • Thales Australia and Kongsberg Defence Australia launched the StrikeMaster land-based maritime strike system. The StrikeMaster combines Thales’ Bushmaster with Kongsberg Defence’s Naval Strike Missile Coastal Defence System. See more here. 
  • Penske Australia and CIMIC’s UGL will partner for a major upcoming ADF maintenance contract to deliver maintenance support services, including national vehicle recovery, for nominated Defence fleet equipment. See more here. 
  • According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Australian Defence Industry is now worth $8.9 billion a year, representing 0.46% of GDP. See more here. 
  • The New Zealand Defence Force is exploring how it will integrate Command, Control, Communication, Computing and Intelligence systems (C4I) into its impending delivery of Thales Bushmaster NZ5.5 vehicles. See more here.  

Defence Industry Support Tools 

Upcoming domestic events

  • Reoccurring 2022 – Soldier On Coffee Catch Up Victoria. See more here.
  • 25 October 2022 – ADM Advanced Manufacturing in Defence Summit. See more here.
  • 26 October 2022 – Women in Defence Networking Alliance Career Webinar. See more here.
  • 25 – 26 October 2022 – Defence Export Controls & ITARS Outreach Program. See more here.
  • 3 November 2022 – DTC Defence Industry Dinner & Award Ceremony. See more here.
  • 7 – 9 November 2022 – SIA 11th Biennial Conference 2022. See more here.
  • 8 – 10 November – PARARI 2022. See more here.
  • 9 November 2022 – ADM Defence Skilling Summit. See more here.
  • 11 – 17 November 2022 – Maritime RobotX Challenge. See more here.  
  • 15 – 17 November 2022 – Military Communications and Information Systems (MilCIS) 2022. See more here.
  • 28 – 30 November Defence Human Sciences Symposium. See more here.
  • 1 December 2022 – ADM Space Summit. See more here.
  • 1 Feb – 2022 ADM Congress. See more here.
  • 20 – 24 February 2023 – International Defence Exhibition and Conference. See more here.
  • 28 February – 5 March 2023 – The AVALON Australian International Airshow and Aerospace & Defence Exposition. See more here.   

Links to grants and other programs