Page 19 - Australian Defence Mag March 2020

ALL IMAGE: ADM - LEIGH ATKINSON
MARCH 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
DEFENCE BUSINESS ADM CONGRESS 19
THE event was held in the Playhouse Theatre in the national capital and was preceded by a welcome reception at the Canberra Hyatt the previous evening. The 2020 event was the 17th
in the annual series which, once again offered the 450 del- egates a packed day of keynote speakers from Defence, De- fence Industry and Government.
The major sponsor for ADM 2020 was Rheinmetall De- fence Australia and managing director Gary Stewart provided the welcome address at the Hyatt and a keynote presentation during proceedings the following day. Other sponsors includ- ed the Northern Territory Government, Kuehner & Nagel, Altair and UGL. Exhibitors and partners included the Naval Shipbuilding College, XTEK Ltd and McKinsey & Company.
Chaired once again by managing editor Katherine Ziesing, ADM 2020 began with a video address from Minister of Defence Industry Melissa Price who was hosting a CDIC roadshow event in Geraldton at the time and could not at- tend in person. Minister Price affirmed once again during her address that she was “100 per cent focussed” on holding defence industry primes to account on their obligations in regard to Australian Industry Content (AIC).
Chief of Army Lieutenant General Rick Burr praised the skills and commitment shown by regulars and reservists in- volved in Army’s contribution to the bushfire crisis, but said he was alert to possible distraction from Army’s primary mis- sion of training for war. Thought was already being given to preparations for the next fire season.
Approval last August of the first stage of Project Greyfin (Land 1508), providing the first $500 million of a $3 billion planned investment over 20 years on Special Forces equip- ment, would make Special Forces more capable and more consistent in its refresh rates, LTGEN Burr stated.
“It is a model in which we would like to build confidence so that the government can allow us to continue to apply this methodology where it is appropriate and be
more agile,” he added.
The program was allowing Special Forces after nearly 20 years of continu- ous intensive commitment, from Timor to the Middle East “and other places”, to have a fresh capability injection and re- focus on “the many challenges out there that they are being asked to confront”.
THE ADF RESPONSE TO THE RECENT BUSHFIRE CRISIS IN EASTERN AUSTRALIA, OPERATION BUSHFIRE ASSIST, WAS A COMMON THREAD THROUGH SEVERAL PRESENTATIONS.
The government’s election commit-
ment to acquire 30 I55mm self-pro-
pelled howitzers and supporting vehi-
cles would add a protected fires element
(but he did not say when) to the protect-
ed mobility Army was attaining though Land 400, Land 121 and the Abrams tank upgrade program.
The ADF response to the recent bushfire crisis in eastern Australia, Operation Bushfire Assist was a common thread through several presentations. Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Michael Noonan described it as a “tremendous callout”, but one which could not have been achieved without support from industry.
VADM Noonan recalled that HMAS Choules was mobilised within 16 hours of the callout and, together with MV Sycamore, evacuated more than 1,100 people from affected areas. Furthermore, he told delegates that HMAS Adelaide sailed three days later with industry personnel from GE and Shadbolt still aboard, complet- ing installation of the ship’s LM2500 gas turbine.
“That’s pretty remarkable, given that was the first ever time we had changed out a gas turbine in one of the LHDs. Period,” he said. “But we did it at the start of an operational deployment, with industry onboard.”
LEFT: Over 450 people gathered to kick off the year with insights from a range of speakers.