This article provides information on the industrial sector in Victoria (Australia) that supplies goods and services to defence and military customers (national governments) and associated supply chain. VIC redirects here. ...

Defence industry activity in Victoria

The Government of Victoria has stated that the defence industry, including military equipment manufacture as well as design, technology support and other services, is a priority industry for the economic development of the State.^[1] The form of the Government of Victoria is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1855, although it has been amended many times since then. ... The defense industry refers primarily to: Defense contractors: business organizations or individuals that provide products or services to a defense department of a government. ...

Some examples of defence projects completed or underway in Victoria include:

• ANZAC class frigate project – ten frigates at a total project value of over $7 billion constructed by Tenix Defence at Williamstown

Impression of a F-35 in RAN colours

• Joint Strike Fighter – to date, twelve Victorian companies have been awarded contracts to work on the JSF F-35 project to provide key components, engineering and design services, which represents about 60 percent of total JSF work done in Australia

• P3 Orion Avionics Upgrade – the $750m upgrade of RAAF’s maritime patrol aircraft at Avalon

• JORN – A $1.1 billion project to design and manufacture the Jindalee Operational Radar Network was completed in Melbourne

• Nulka Decoy Project – Victoria is at the centre of the Nulka ship defence system project, a highly successful commercialisation of DSTO technology

• Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile Project – key elements of the flight control system for the ESSM were developed in Victoria
• Munitions – all domestic production of military munitions occurs at Benalla

• F/A-18 Hornet Fighter Aircraft – Australia's fighter aircraft fleet was assembled at Avalon with composite components manufactured at Fishermans Bend in Melbourne

• High Mobility Engineering Vehicles – delivery of 27 HMEVs completed for the Army, and 40 units sold to the US. High interest has been shown from China, Canada and the United Arab Emirates

• Bushmaster IMV – full rate production of 700 Bushmaster vehicles is underway at Bendigo. Interest has been shown by the US, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates

• Canberra class large amphibious ship project - Tenix Defence has been announced as the preferred tenderer to build two new large amphibious ships (landing ship helicopter docks, or LHD) for the Australian Navy at a cost of around $3 billion.^[2]

Victorian defence businesses have also enjoyed successes in defence exports and global integration. For example: Tenix Defence is completing Project Protector at Williamstown for the New Zealand Government, Thales Australia has sold military vehicles to the US, Canada, the UAE and the Netherlands, Nulka and ESSM technologies have been successfully exported, and GKN is providing high level design support to international primes on global projects such as Joint Strike Fighter. HMAS Anzac operating in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. ... Tenix Pty Ltd is the parent company of the Tenix Group, Australia’s largest locally-owned defence and technology contractor. ... Williamstown is the name of several places in the Australia: Williamtown, New South Wales Williamstown, South Australia Williamstown, Victoria, which gives its name to the Williamstown railway line, Melbourne, and Williamstown railway station, Melbourne Williamstown is the name of a village in Canada: Williamstown, Ontario Williamstown is the name of... Image File history File links RAN_F-35. ... Image File history File links RAN_F-35. ... The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is a fighter plane currently in early development by Lockheed Martin (with partners Northrop Grumman and BAE SYSTEMS.) The primary customers are the United States armed forces and the United Kingdom (RN and RAF), but the Netherlands... The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is a fighter plane currently in early development by Lockheed Martin (with partners Northrop Grumman and BAE SYSTEMS.) The primary customers are the United States armed forces and the United Kingdom (RN and RAF), but the Netherlands... The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a maritime patrol aircraft of numerous militaries around the world, used primarily for maritime patrol, reconnaissance, and anti-submarine warfare. ... For other uses, see Avalon (disambiguation). ... The Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) is an over-the-horizon radar network that can monitor air and sea movements across 37,000km2. ... An active missile decoy designed and built by an American/Australian collaboration. ... Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile The Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) is a development of the Sea Sparrow missile used to protect ships from attacking missiles and aircraft. ... Materiel (from the French for material) is the equipment and supplies in Military and commercial supply chain management. ... BesMella is also known as Benalla or Benalta but is mailly known as a QuakeWorld community which began in Benalla. ... The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F/A-18 Hornet is a modern all-weather carrier-capable strike fighter jet, designed to attack both ground and aerial targets. ... The Bushmaster Infantry Mobility Vehicle is an Australian built wheeled armoured vehicle designed by Perry Engineering in Adelaide with some technical support from Irish company Timoney Technology Ltd. ... Bendigo is a large regional town in central Victoria, Australia, located in the City of Greater Bendigo. ... The Australian government has approved a AU$2 billion project to build two Canberra class large amphibious ships for the Royal Australian Navy. ... LHD is the US Navy hull classification symbol for multipurpose amphibious assault ships of the Wasp class. ... Tenix Pty Ltd is the parent company of the Tenix Group, Australia’s largest locally-owned defence and technology contractor. ... // The MoD Long-Term Development Plan (LTDP) is a planning tool to enable decisions on defence acquisitions to be taken in the context of the Government’s defence policy, the priority of projects and affordability. ... Thales Australia (formerly ADI Limited) was the primary defence contractor for the Australian Defence Force. ... GKN plc is a British engineering company formerly known as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds and tracing its origins back to 1759 and the birth of the industrial revolution. ...

Scale of defence industry in Victoria

Note: unless otherwise indicated, data in this section is from "Project to measure Victoria's defence industry activity" written by Australian Aerospace and Defence Innovations Ltd, June 2006. [11]

Approximately 25 percent of defence industry activity in Australia occurs in Victoria, despite the fact that Victoria has few major military bases and consequently fewer opportunities to supply maintenance and overhaul services to Defence assets. The core of Victoria’s defence industry (being those businesses with more than 50 percent of revenue derived from defence customers) has a turnover in excess of $1.2 billion per annum, employing over 10,500 Victorians.

About 60 percent of this employment is by the 19 Prime and Tier 1 defence contractors that undertake defence work in Victoria.

This activity is separate from those people employed directly in the Australian Defence Force and Defence civilian administration. There are around 6000 military employees based in Victoria and almost 4000 civilian employees.^[3] These employment and actvity numbers does also not include research institutions and related non-profit activities. For example, there are around 600 people employed in Victoria by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation.^[4] The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia. ... The Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) is a branch of the Australian Department of Defence which researches and develops technologies for use in the Australian Defence Industry. ...

The major sources of defence industry activity (turnover) in Victoria in 2005-06 were:

Supporting the defence industry, there are in excess of 800 firms that supply goods and services to defence businesses, and many more that enter and exit the defence sector for particular projects.^[5]

87 percent of Victorian defence companies also generate additional business outside the defence market.^[6]

Four of Australia's top five defence businesses have substantial operations in Victoria.^[7]

In 2005-06, turnover per employee for Victorian defence businesses was $193,000 for the total industry. Prime/Tier 1 productivity was $171,000 per employee while productivity in small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) was over $250,000 per employee.

Sixty-seven percent of defence businesses operating in Victoria are actively exporting defence and non-defence goods and services to a total value of $1.05 billion in 2005-06. This is around 6 percent of total Victorian exports. Around 40 percent of the total turnover for the core Victorian defence companies in 2005-06 was attributed to international markets.^[8] Victoria's defence businesses were responsible for more than two-thirds of Australia's defence exports in 2005-06.

Industry support

Support to the Victorian defence industry is primary delivered or coordinated by the State Government Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development, which has a dedicated Defence Industry Unit.^[9] To guide policy development and lead on strategic projects, the government has established the Victorian Defence Industry Advisory Council.

The Victorian Defence Industry Advisory Council is a body established by the State Government of Victoria, Australia on 24 July 2007^[10]. The Council will provide the government with high level advice on current defence industry issues. The form of the Government of Victoria is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1855, although it has been amended many times since then. ... The defense industry refers primarily to: Defense contractors: business organizations or individuals that provide products or services to a defense department of a government. ...

The members of the Council are^[11]:

• Ric Smith AO, PSM (Chair) - former Secretary of the Department of Defence (Australia) and previously Australian Ambassador to Indonesia and China
• Ken Loughnan, AO (Deputy Chair) - Chairman of Skilled Group
• Tony Shepherd - Chairman of Transfield Services and ConnectEast
• Mick Roche – former Head of the Defence Materiel Organisation
• LTGEN (rtd) Des Mueller AO - former Vice Chief of the Australian Defence Force
• Andrew Johnson
• Lynne Bennington - Professor at RMIT

The Victorian Defence Industry Advisory Council initiative was announced as part of the Government’s strategic framework A Roadmap for Victoria’s Defence Industriesreleased on 10 August 2006. The Department of Defence is an Australian government department. ... SKILLED Group (ASX:SKE) is a public Australian company headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria and listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. ... ConnectEast (ASX: CEU) is a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) responsible for the finance, design, construction, maintenance of Melbournes EastLink freeway project. ... The Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) is the Australian Government agency responsible for the acquisition, through-life support and disposal of equipment for the Australian Defence Force. ... The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia. ... The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (now officially known only as RMIT University), is a university in Melbourne, Australia. ...

Defence companies in Victoria

The following companies are based in, or have significant operations in, Victoria:
Savi Technology
Aerosonde Ltd
Adacel
BAE Systems Australia
Tenix Defence
Thales Australia
GKN
Redflex Holdings
Radio Frequency Systems
BMT Limited
Lockheed Martin
Boeing Australia (Hawker de Havilland) Savi Technology is a logistics company which designs and implements product-tracking and asset management systems, using RFID, barcode, cellular and satellite communications. ... Aerosonde Ltd logo Aerosonde Ltd is an Australian-based developer and manufacturer of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, including the Aerosonde series. ... BAE Systems Australia is an Australian defence contractor formed by the merger of British Aerospace Australia and GEC-Marconi Systems, respectively the Australian subsidiaries of British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems. ... Tenix Pty Ltd is the parent company of the Tenix Group, Australia’s largest locally-owned defence and technology contractor. ... Thales Australia (formerly ADI Limited) was the primary defence contractor for the Australian Defence Force. ... GKN plc is a British engineering company formerly known as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds and tracing its origins back to 1759 and the birth of the industrial revolution. ... Established in 1985, BMT Limited is an international multi-disciplinary engineering, science and technology consultancy offering a broad range of services, particularly in the defence, energy, environment, shipping and general transportation sectors. ... Lockheed/BAE/Northrop F-35 Lockheed Trident missile C-130 Hercules; in production since the 1950s, now as the C-130J Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is an aerospace manufacturer formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. ... Boeing Australia, Ltd. ...

External links

Victorian Government website
Australian Industry and Defence Network in Victoria

References