Page 81 - Australian Defence Mag Sep 2020

SEPTEMBER 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
DEFENCE INDUSTRY 81
ENHANCING CBRN CAPABILITY
AS the political and defence landscape changes due to global volatility and the out- break of a global biological pandemic, there has never been a more important time in his- tory to secure our Chemical, Biological and Radiological Nuclear Explosive (CBRNE) supply chain, increase our Australian man- ufacturing capability and invest in our de- fence infrastructure.
“There is no question the global pandemic has uncovered just how vulnerable our supply chains are across all industries,” Gareth Mol- nar, CEO of J3Seven said to ADM.
“But products and services for our defence supply chain are equally as vulnerable, and this is a matter we need to mitigate as a mat- ter of priority.
“There has been a lot of commentary around sovereign capability over the years in the defence space, but now it’s time to make a concerted effort to increase this.
“In Australia we manufacture very little,
yet we have some of the highest skilled, globally recognised experts in the small to medium enterprise sector that need to be engaged to assist primes in the delivery of AIC. Substantial investment is required in our homelands production lines. Our national security depends on it.”
The reality is, if the worst-case scenario were ever to unfold, every country would put their own defence assets and interests ahead of every other nations, including Australia’s.
“That’s not an assumption, that’s a fact and a very real threat. We have seen that most recently with the supply of PPE equipment at the start of the global pan- demic. When we have too many critical products and services imported from other countries, we are leaving ourselves wide open for a disastrous shortage at a time when we can least afford it. It is time to get serious about investing in the manu- facturing of our Defence needs right here
on home soil to ensure Australia is never left in that position,” Molnar said.
“It cannot be overstated the importance of buying time when on the battlefield and allowing for increased situational aware- ness and better decision making.”
As a decorated Ex Special Forces soldier, and a well-known CBRNE technocrat, Molnar knows all too well the importance of technology on the frontline and how systems such as advanced point detection and standoff detection can be used to bet- ter protect our people and assets.
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