Page 61 - Australian Defence Magazine April 2023

APRIL 2023 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
FROM THE SOURCE
JIM MCDOWELL 61
2020
2018
2016 2014
2011 2001 1998
1978
PROFILE
Chief Executive Officer, Nova Systems
Doctoral candidate, the University of South Australia
Chief Executive, Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Government of South Australia
Chancellor,
University of South Australia
Chair Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation; Founder,
Josamila Consulting
CEO, BAE Systems Saudi Arabia CEO, BAE Systems Australia
Managing Director, Asia, BAE Systems Asia
Legal, Commercial & Marketing positions at Bombardier Shorts
MCDOWELL: That’s interesting because it’s quite hard to say at the moment.
Where SMA could play a role, and hopefully will play a role, is in the development of the next phase of a truly Aus- tralian family of missiles.
And then I think there’s also a role for Nova Systems out- side of SMA, particularly in the Test and Evaluation space for guided weapons and explosive ordnance. We already have a large presence in the explosive materiel branch as part of our MSP (Major Service Provider) contract, but I’d like to see Nova being a real partner on the rest of the guid- ed weapons side of things.
I think the current focus is correctly on replenishing and building up the war stock and getting better value and utilisation out of those large missiles that are very platform- specific, whether it be on ships or aeroplanes.
ADM: How will the outcomes of the DSR impact Nova Systems’ planning and operations moving forward? MCDOWELL: Well, one thing I can be pretty certain of, is that I won’t need that much of a crystal ball, because we op- erate predominantly in our advisory business, which is the bulk of our business, in horizontals, not verticals, so project
LEFT: Nova Systems runs a Flight Lab course where students are provided an airborne demonstration of flight mechanics and aircraft stability and control
management and logistics support and Test and Evaluation mostly through the MSP and DSS construct. In this case, it doesn’t really matter what the DSR says because hori- zontals will continue. The verticals might change but the horizontals – T&E (Test and Evaluation) is T&E. It doesn’t matter what is being acquired or how it is being acquired, you’ve still got to certify, assure, test and evaluate it. That part of the business I see being affected positively.
Then of course we believe we’ve made the right bets in the verticals in teaming with companies like Northrop Grum- man and Safran and continuing to grow in the Electronic Warfare space, the C4ISR space, in Space and geospatial, that’s where we’re making our bets.
Regarding guided weapons, as I said, it doesn’t take a crystal ball to figure out that GWEO and long-range strike and hypervelocity will get a guernsey in the DSR.
ADM: How is Nova Systems managing workforce chal- lenges? What are your expectations for the company’s workforce development in 2023?
MCDOWELL: There’s a demand side and a supply side and we all focus on the supply side. So, for starters on the sup- ply side, from a purely selfish point of view, it’s about re-
NOVA SYSTEMS