Building on our proud legacy as Australia’s Defence State, the State Government has partnered with the Commonwealth Government to help the defence industry shore up the necessary pipeline of highly skilled workers required to fulfil current and horizon projects – funding workforce initiatives that help attract, upskill and retain workers.   The South Australian Defence Industry Workforce and Skills Report details targeted initiatives that accelerate the work already underway to grow the South Australian defence industry workforce. Building a capability pipeline across education, training and employment, the initiatives are designed to grow a skilled and inclusive workforce; from school, VET and ...

The 2023 Indo Pacific International Maritime Exposition, held in Sydney from 7-9 November, proved momentum is strong for Australia’s naval shipbuilding industry with multiple event records broken.   More than 27,000 delegates were in attendance across the three day event – up from 25,000 in 2022 – and the exhibition floor space was 13% larger than the previous record with 832 participating exhibitors from 21 nations. The record-breaking streak continued for South Australia with more than 80 local organisations participating on the South Australia – The Defence State stand, which was the largest delegation of any state or territory at ...

The Arafura class offshore patrol vessel (OPV) NUSHIP Eyre has been launched at South Australia’s world-class Osborne Naval Shipyard. Named for the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, NUSHIP Eyre is the second in a fleet of 12 OPVs being built by Luerssen Australia for the Royal Australian Navy. It is the last of its class to be constructed in South Australia and follows the launch of NUSHIP Arafura in December 2021. South Australian Deputy Premier and Minister for Defence and Space Industries, Susan Close, said the vessel’s launch represented an important milestone in the state’s continuous naval shipbuilding program. “The ...

Five Australian companies have come together to boost Australia’s sovereign Information Warfare (IW) capabilities with the formation of the Australian Information Warfare Alliance (AIWA). Announced at the Info Pacific International Maritime Exposition 2023, the AIWA brings together leading South Australian companies DEWC Services, Asension, SOIO – School of Information Operations, CyberOps and Canberra-based Elysium EPL to deliver specialised IW capability and capacity. Collectively, the consortium will harness the technical expertise of its founding member organisations to offer specialist support and expertise, training services, simulation and wargaming, sovereign research and development, as well as in-house capability development. AIWA spokesperson, Allan Dundas, ...

Australian submarine company, ASC, is set to partner with Tonsley Technical College, in a move that strengthen employment pathways for school students into the defence industry. As a key employer partner at the Tonsley Technical College, ASC will shape the learning experiences, support workplace learning and provide job opportunities through apprenticeships for students when they complete their programs. The partnership will also bolster the advanced manufacturing and engineering pathway being offered at the technical college, helping to ensure students are workplace ready when they complete their studies. With ASC focused on sustaining and updating the Collins class submarines, Managing Director ...

South Australian Defence technology company Consunet has attracted global attention by pushing the boundaries of AI and machine learning in the mission-critical area of Electromagnetic Spectrum (EMS) management. Dr Don Gossink, Consunet’s Chief Scientist, will present Consunet’s breakthrough spectrum management technologies at the Military Communications and Information Systems (MiLCIS) Conference being held in Canberra this week. It follows his recent involvement on a panel of Radio Frequency Spectrum experts invited to discuss EMS challenges at the DARPA Electronics Resurgence Initiative Summit (ERI 2.0) in Seattle. ERI 2.0 is one of the foremost conferences for professionals working in the field of ...

A new partnership between the South Australian Government and the United States’ largest shipbuilder, HII, will accelerate the development of the state’s defence industry workforce, skills and supply chain. The Memorandum of Understanding between the South Australian Government and HII’s newly formed Australian entity, HII Nuclear Australia Pty Ltd, was signed on 13 November in Adelaide. The MoU outlines an arrangement to work together, leveraging HII’s international expertise to ready South Australia for major shipbuilding projects on the horizon. The parties will work with local companies, academia and education providers to develop a skilled workforce and strengthen Australia’s industry capability, ...

South Australian passive surveillance technology company, Silentium Defence, has become the second Australian company to graduate from the Lockheed Martin Mentor Protégé Program (MPP), bolstering the nation’s sovereign capability. Only the second company outside of the United States (US) to complete the MPP, the program has armed Silentium Defence with the knowledge and tools necessary to accelerate its business growth, enhance its organisational maturity and contribute to the strength of Australia’sindustrial defence capability. Over an intensive 12-month period, Silentium Defence received guidance and support from Lockheed Martin’s foremost subject matter experts across the US and Australia, covering critical business areas ...

Adelaide-based industrial refrigeration leader, Cold Logic, has been awarded a multi-million dollar contract by BAE Systems Australia to construct cold and cool rooms for the first batch of Hunter class frigates. Cold Logic will partner with UK company Ernest West & Beyson (EWB) for the project, leveraging EWB’s experience in supplying into the Type 26 program for the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy, which is the reference design for the frigates being built at Osborne Naval Shipyard. The contract includes the construction of a refrigerated storeroom, which includes a cold room, cool room, refrigerated airlock and dairy room, and refrigeration machinery. ...

South Australia’s world-class defence industry capabilities will be on show at this year’s international maritime exposition, Indo Pacific 2023, which docks in Sydney from 7-9 November. A record-breaking delegation of South Australian defence industry will turn out for this year’s expo, with more than 80 companies participating on the South Australia – The Defence State stand. Defence SA Chief Executive Richard Price said this is the largest delegation the agency had hosted at any trade show in its history. “The demand to join this year’s Defence State delegation surpassed our expectations and reflects the commitment, capability and momentum building across ...

Quantum technology firm, QuantX Labs, has launched a breakthrough concept in defence innovation, with the opening of its collaborative workspace, RavensNest. RavensNest was officially opened by South Australian Premier the Hon Peter Malinauskas MP and Australia’s Chief Defence Scientist Professor Tanya Monro. The new capability accelerator is set to super-charge the local defence innovation ecosystem by allowing industry to work alongside defence and university researchers, as well as the Australian Defence Force. The environment has been designed to offer the opportunity for transformative technologies to be fast-tracked from research through to sovereign capability, answering the most urgent problems for Defence ...

South Australian leader in passive radar technology, Silentium Defence, has announced its first US sales of the MAVERICK M8 passive radar system and establishment of a US entity.   This marks a key milestone in the company’s global growth strategy, and will enable Silentium to provide responsive customer engagement, and capitalise on recent momentum across the Defence, national security and intelligence sectors. Silentium Defence CEO Dr James Palmer, said it was an exciting moment for Silentium, as well as Australia’s defence export industry. “To see uniquely Australian developed capability in the hands of US customers is proof we can build ...