Made in Australia is key to our nation’s security
Australia faces an increasingly uncertain geopolitical environment that is being amplified by new battlefield technologies.
Australia faces an increasingly uncertain geopolitical environment that is being amplified by new battlefield technologies that will provide significant asymmetric advantage to those that deploy them.
The war in Ukraine and the continuing impacts of Covid on global supply chains will also see instability continue and only strengthen the need for onshore capacity and capability to secure our national interests.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles recently noted Australia’s geo-strategic environment underscores the need for a “robust, sovereign and internationally competitive defence industrial base”.
The ability of Australian industry to support the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has been an important and recurring thread in recent defence reviews and remains fundamental in uncertain times.
After more than a decade of working in the European Defence sector I can confidently state that our engineering and manufacturing talent is world class, something we should all be rightly proud of and look to invest in for the future.
Deploying our national resources to develop capabilities that create asymmetric advantage for the ADF, while providing resilience in times of conflict and creating jobs on the back of significant Defence investments and exports is a goal that as a nation we should strive for.
The benefits of Made in Australia are clear and, when we get it right, the security and prosperity dividend for Australia is significant.
A case in point is the Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN). This is a world class, homegrown, strategic surveillance capability that is the eyes and ears of the ADF to our north.
The current capability upgrade of this iconic radar system is supported by a significant investment in new technologies, industrial collaboration and university research.
We have some 1600 companies in our national supply chain and local businesses are contributing more than 90 per cent Australian content to JORN and together we are sustaining and upgrading the vital capabilities that the system provides for the ADF.
BAE Systems exports more than $150m of world-leading, Australian-made technologies annually, which contributes to improving our national resilience and creating jobs in small to medium enterprises around the nation.
One of the nation’s most successful defence exports is Nulka. It is a world-leading product developed here in Australia and protects ships from missile attacks, and it has generated export revenues of more than $1bn for the nation.
Developing and growing sovereign capabilities is also at the core of the Hunter Class Frigate Program, where skills, knowledge and engineering capability has been transferred to and are now being grown in Australia.
This program is vital because by the 2030s half of the world’s submarines will operate in the Indo-Pacific and Hunter will deliver to the ADF a world-class submarine hunting and general purpose frigate to assist in securing our national interests.
At the purpose-built Osborne Shipyard in Adelaide, a 1500 strong and growing workforce is already demonstrating manufacturing productivity and quality benchmarks above sector norms.
The growing capabilities at Osborne are backed up by great Australian companies such as CEA who will deliver a radar and sensor suite that will be without peer in the maritime environment.
The capabilities developed and matured during the Hunter program will ensure that future warships can be designed, built, maintained and upgraded in Australia.
Fostering sovereign capability assists local companies to grow their Made in Australia pedigree and contribute to securing the differentiated capabilities that will allow our ADF to deter and defeat future threats, while improving national resilience and prosperity.
Defence capabilities and systems that are Made in Australia fundamentally improve the security, resilience and prosperity of our nation.
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Ben Hudson is chief executive of BAE Systems Australia.
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