Latest News from ADA-Vic

Hi there,

On the 29th October a Royal Navy nuclear-powered submarine made a port call to Perth, Western Australia. The Astute class submarine, went alongside HMAS Stirling in Rockingham.

Her visit to Australia, a first for an Astute-class submarine, will provide the crew with a short period of respite. The submarine has been part of the UK Carrier Strike Group deployment to the Indo-Pacific which had recently exercised with a range of Royal Australian Navy units alongside numerous engagements with regional partners.

Read more from the Hon. Peter Dutton, Minister for Defence, and the Right Hon. Ben Wallace, Secretary of State for Defence (UK) - Joint Media Release.

On 16 September 2021, the Prime Minister of Australia, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the President of the United States of America, announced an enhanced trilateral security partnership between Australia, the UK and the US (AUKUS).

The first major initiative under AUKUS is Australia’s acquisition of at least eight nuclear-powered submarines. The Australian Government intends to build these submarines in Adelaide.

Australia, the UK and the US have committed to a comprehensive program of work over the next 18 months that will bring this capability into service. The optimal pathway to achieve this is through a significant increase in Australia-UK-US defence collaboration.

This period will be used to examine the full suite of requirements that underpin nuclear stewardship, with a specific focus on safety, design, construction, operation, maintenance, disposal, regulation, training, environmental protection, installations and infrastructure, basing, workforce and force structure.

The Government has established a Nuclear-Powered Submarine Task Force led by VADM Jonathan Mead AO to facilitate Australia’s role in AUKUS.

For more information about the Nuclear-Powered Submarine Task Force visit the website.

Thales, in partnership with ADA-VIC, is presenting a series of webinars to engage SMEs and our SME partners to brief on current and near term supply opportunities in the GW & EO space.

This webinar will cover topics including:

Summary of Explosive Ordnance (EO) supply chain opportunities supporting the Strategic Domestic Munitions Manufacturing (SDMM) Contract
Guided Weapons, Space and Hypersonics Supply Chain opportunities
What is it like being an SME partner supporting Project Advanced Rocket Motor Technology Demonstrator
Establishing an Australia supply solution for Spike LR2
Conclusions and way to stay engaged

DATE
Thursday, 18 November 2021

TIME
Webinar commences 11:00am

SPEAKERS
Dion Habner, Managing Director, Australia Munitions
Duncan Watt, General Manager, Guided Systems
Jacob Blitman, Chief Executive Officer, VRA
Lloyd Damp, Chief Executive Officer, Southern Launch
Michelle Richard, Director, Purchasing

ADA-Vic Networking and Golf Day

10th December 2021

The ADA-Vic Networking and Golf Day is scheduled for the Friday, 10th of December 2021, at Medway Golf Club, Maidstone, VIC.

This event will consist of a morning session of networking and industry briefings, set amongst an amazing backdrop with morning tea and lunch. For the golfers there will be a golf competition in the afternoon and then a dinner and further networking session in the evening.

This will be an enjoyable and informative day with the opportunity to meet others in Defence.

Telstra wins $1.1bn Defence Contract

Telstra, announced on the 3rd November 2021, an agreement to renew its contract with the Australian Department of Defence to deliver critical network and telecommunications services.

The five-year contract, worth over $1 billion, will see Telstra continue to provide the Department

with leading-edge technology and telco solutions. The contract includes the option for Defence to extend the contract for one or more periods of up to three years. It is the largest ever customer contract of its kind signed by Telstra Enterprise and contributes to Telstra’s previously communicated target of returning the Enterprise business to growth.

Assistance for SMEs Affected by the Cancellation of the Attack Class Submarine Contract

The Impacted SME Support Cell has been established within CDIC to support SMEs identify competitive opportunities, that leverages the time and effort they have made to increase their future competitiveness for the Attack Class program, but were yet to secure a contract with Naval Group or Lockheed Martin Australian.

CDIC's resources will be harnessed to assist SMEs to compete for future work either in the shipbuilding domain or more broadly with the increasing Defence programs that Government is investing in.

The support cell can be contacted on SME.support@defence.gov.au.

From Defence:

Defence has awarded contracts to three Victorian businesses:

QinetiQ, partnered with the University of Melbourne, has received a $5.4 million contract to develop a deployable micro-grid to address increased demand for power on the battlefield. See more here.
DMTC Limited has received a $3 million contract to explore the application of new textile technology within the ADF. See more here.
Leidos has secured a $1.6 million Defence Innovation Hub contract to develop underwater surveillance technologies. See more here.

Defence Industry Secondment Program – Defence has modified its secondment program an is seeking interest from in participating in the program. Information Sheet.

Other News:

Leonardo Australia and Deakin University partner with the SmartCRC and e-GEOS to develop new space-enabled surveillance capability. See more here.
Frontier SI and RMIT University feature in the first grants under the UK-Australia Space Bridge partnership. See more here.
Nominations are now open for the 2022 Australian Space Awards. See more here.
The Commonwealth Government has introduced into parliament the first of two bills to strengthen the security of critical infrastructure. The defence industry sector and the space technology sector are both included as critical infrastructure sectors. See more here.

COVID Support

Support and guidance for businesses dealing with COVID can be found 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.

Links to Grant and other Programs:

Critical Role for Industry in $5.1 billion Support of Hobart Class Destroyers

On the 25th October 2021, Minister for Defence Industry, Melissa Price encouraged Australian industry to become part of an innovative new model sustaining Navy’s ships.

Australia’s defence industry will act as a ‘steward’ for the Royal Australian Navy’s Hobart class destroyers under a new approach to sustainment that will optimise the destroyers’ capability and create hundreds of jobs in South Australia.

Tenders opened for a Capability Life Cycle Manager, which will see industry support and sustain the destroyers through their lifespan.

An Industry Briefing will be held about the Hobart class destroyer Capability Life Cycle Manager on 4 November 2021.

Tenders will need to be received on or before 21 January 2022. Further information is available on AusTender.

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.

SEA 1905 - Portable Operation Centre

Thales UWS is seeking to gain a detailed understanding of Australian industry for organisations with the design and technical capability to manufacture, integrate and supply the ‘Portable Operations Centre’ system outlined in this Expression of Interest (EOI). Note Thales is looking for an organisation to partner with who can provide a turn-key solution.

This opportunity offers the successful organisation the potential to partner with Thales in Australia for the SEA1905 Programme and global defence programmes through the Thales Global Supply Chain.