Latest News from ADA-Vic

$81.4m Budget Boost to a Key Defence Sovereign Industrial Capability Grant Program

The Government has committed a further $81.4 million to a key grant program aimed at growing the sovereign industrial capability of Australia’s defence industry, extending it until 30 June 2025 as part of the 2022-23 Budget.

Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price today also unveiled changes to the grant guidelines for the Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority Grant program that would make it a competitive program.

Minister Price, who made the announcement at the Defence Connect Budget Lunch in Canberra, said continued funding of the SICP Grant program would help build Australia’s sovereign industrial capacity to support the Australian Defence Force.

Federal Government Launches Small Business Advocacy Team

The Government is backing Australia’s small to medium defence industry businesses by launching a Small Business Advocacy Team dedicated to helping those business win a share of billions of dollars in critical Defence projects.

Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price said the establishment of the new team within the Office of Defence Industry Support reinforces the Government’s commitment to building up sovereign capability among Australia’s SMEs.

Small to medium enterprises can contact the Small Business Advocacy Team directly to raise specific issues of concern: Smallbusiness.advocacy@defence.gov.au

For more information visit www.defence.gov.au/sbat

Innovative Aussie Businesses to Protect our National Security

The Federal Government has unveiled three defence capability focus areas critical to Australia’s national security that will guide the Government’s investment in the innovative ideas of Australian businesses.

From 1 July 2022, the Government’s Defence Innovation Hub will seek submissions for innovations that will strengthen specific defence capabilities in the areas of guided weapons and explosive ordnance, integrated air and missile defence, and undersea warfare.

The key focus areas will be a high priority for investment and have been singled out to give industry more detailed information about specific capabilities.

The focus areas will contribute to the stimulation of innovative ideas in those areas, which are of significant strategic importance to Defence.

Industry and research organisations will also be able to submit proposals across the domains outlined in the 2020 Force Structure Plan – Information and Cyber, Maritime, Air, Space, Land and enterprise wide enabling capabilities.

Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price said the rapid pace of technological change and shifting geopolitical dynamics meant Defence’s innovation programs needed to be agile and responsive.

For more detailed information visit: https://www.innovationhub.defence.gov.au/

More Opportunities for SMEs in the Defence Industry

The Government is opening new doors for small and medium businesses to win defence procurement work, as part of our plan to further strengthen sovereign defence capabilities.

Updates to the Commonwealth Procurement Rules, to come into effect on 1 July 2022, will increase the threshold that SMEs can be directly engaged for defence procurements from $200,000 to $500,000.

This will mean that Defence contracts valued up to $500,000 can be offered exclusively to SME suppliers, or they can be subject of a tender process only between SME suppliers.

The updated Commonwealth Procurement Rules can be found here: https://www.finance.gov.au/government/procurement/commonwealth-procurement-rules

ADA-Vic Member Coolon LED Lighting announced Endeavour Awards 2021 Manufacturer of the Year

The Manufacturers’ Monthly Endeavour Awards are recognised as the premier Awards program for the Australian manufacturing industry. The program promotes, recognises and rewards excellence within the industry. ADA-Vic would like to congratulate its member Coolon LED Lighting on its participation in the Endeavour Awards and for being a winner in 3 categories.

🏆 Best Industrial IoT Application

🏆 Most Innovative Manufacturing Company

🏆 Manufacturer of the Year

Defence - Robotics, Autonomous Systems, and Artificial Intelligence Matrix Survey

Austrade and the Trusted Autonomous Systems Defence Cooperative Research Centre (TASDCRC), are conducting a survey to map defence capabilities in Robotics, Autonomous Systems & Artificial Intelligence (RASAI). The intention of this survey is to create a report to help promote the sector internationally, and highlight innovative Australian RASAI companies and capabilities. This will be a similar report to the Australian Defence Industry Cyber Capability Matrix.

Companies wanting to be included in the report, will need to fill out the survey by going to this link - RASAI Matrix – Survey – Defence CRC Tas Limited (tasdcrc.com.au). The deadline for the survey is Thursday, 14 April.

From Defence:

The 2022 Defence Sales Catalogue has been released. See more here and here.
The Minister for Defence Industry has launched a new campaign around defence industry jobs. See more here.
The Australian Defence Force’s Space Command commenced operations on 22 March 2022. See more here and here.
ASIO has launched a Notifiable Incidents, Threats or Reportable Observations (NITRO) portal for defence industry to report about unusual activity related to espionage, insider threats or foreign interference directly to ASIO. See more here.
Defence is to invest $122 million in 29 estate projects in Victoria. See more here.

Other News:

Kongsberg has teamed with Hanwha as the C4 integration partner for Land 8116. See more here.
Varley Rafael Australia reviews a number of Victorian businesses as potential supply chain partners. See more here.
Ronson Gears has secured several contracts with Lockheed Martin under the Global Supply Chain program. See more here.
Elbit Land Systems Australia is now a fully Australian sovereign subsidiary. See more here.
Hanwha Defense hosted an Australian industry delegation in Korea. See more here.
Defence Connect will live stream its Budget Lunch 2022 on 1 April 2022 at which the Minister for Defence Industry and the Shadow Minister for Defence Industry will speak. See more here.
Sentient Vision’s ViDAR has been selected for evaluation under the US Foreign Comparative Technology program. See more here.

Upcoming Domestic Events:

5 April 2022 – Northern Australia Defence Summit. See more here.
10-12 May 2022 – Indo-Pacific International Maritime Exposition. See more here.
15 June 2022 – Trusted Autonomous Systems 2022 Symposium. See more here.
22 June 2022 – ADM Congress. See more here.
20-22 July 2022 – Australian Defence Science and Technology Research Summit. See more here.
4-6 October 2022 – Land Forces International Land Defence Exposition. See more here.
11-17 November 2022 – Maritime RobotX Challenge. See more here.
28 February-5 March 2023 – Australian International Aerospace & Defence Exposition (28 February – 3 March) and the Australian International Airshow ( 3 – 5 March). See more here.

Victorian Common User Facility

If industry requires access to secure communications facilities to engage with Defence, this can be provided through the Victorian Common User Facility.

Defence Industry Support Tools

The Office of Defence Industry Support has a number of tools to support defence SMEs. The Defence Business Readiness Tool, the Digital Readiness Assessment Tool, and the Cyber Security Assessment Tool.

Links to Grant and other Programs:

Australian Defence Export Office Pitch Training Program

The ADEO, in partnership with Marketing Entourage, have created a five week online pitch training program specifically for businesses looking to export defence and dual use goods and services. This training is fully subsidised for Australian Defence Industry businesses.

The program is specifically designed to improve the chances of success for Australian defence industry companies when engaging with opportunities to pitch their capabilities to foreign military and military suppliers. The training is delivered through a series of webinars, online modules and one-to-one pitch practice sessions.

Australian Defence Industry businesses are encouraged to apply by registering their interest at the link below. Multiple people from the same business can be included as a single application. Limited spaces are available on each cohort and the ADEO will prioritise businesses who have recently participated in an industry delegation with TDA.

Click here to learn more about the Online Pitch Training Program and to register your interest.

BAE Systems Hunter Class Opportunities

BAE Systems Maritime Australia’s Innovation team is seeking Expressions of Interest from industry to support the Hunter Class Frigate Program (HCFP) to:

Investigate manufacturing technologies, materials, coatings, and processes with the potential to improve the sail away performance of the nine Hunter class frigates;
Investigate infrastructure, the workforce, and shipyard capabilities to ensure the Osborne Naval Shipyard maintains high levels of productivity, quality and safety; and,
Investigate ongoing maintenance or future capability upgrades that may immediately influence the design and delivery of the nine Hunter Frigates to be built at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in South Australia.

The team will evaluate submissions quarterly - with feedback - until June 2022.

Each EOI reviewed by the Hunter Innovation Team may be considered for future steps including a Request for Information (RFI) and/or Request for Proposal (RFP). This may lead to a an agreement for a scope of work which could be in the form of a Research Task, Case Study; Feasibility Studies; Proof of Concept; Prototyping; or other agreed scope of work.