Page 8 - Australian Defence Magazine Dec21-Jan22

8 NEWS REVIEW INDUSTRY UPDATE
DECEMBER 2021-JANUARY 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
BRITISH NUCLEAR-POWERED SUB VISITS PERTH
A Royal Navy nuclear-powered submarine has conducted a port visit to Perth, one of the first since the announcement of AU- KUS in September.
The Astute class submarine went along- side HMAS Stirling in Rockingham, WA, on Friday 29 October 2021.
The submarine has been part of the UK Carrier Strike Group deployment to the Indo-Pacific which had recently ex- ercised with a range of RAN units along- side numerous engagements with region- al partners.
Her visit to Australia is to provide the
crew with a short period of respite in ac- cordance with COVID-19 restrictions set by the Western Australian Government.
“The UK, Australia and our Five Eyes intelligence partners have a long history of friendship and our Navies have enjoyed a close and mutually beneficial relationship for over a hundred years,” UK Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace said.
“With many shared security interests, it is natural that Australia is at the heart of the UK’s Indo-Pacific tilt. The permanent maritime presence in the region provided by HMS Tamar and Spey further demon-
LEFT: The Minister for Defence Peter Dutton, Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price, British High Commissioner Vicki Treadell and Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Michael Noonan with crew members of a
UK Royal Navy nuclear powered submarine, at HMAS Stirling in WA.
strates this resolve and our commitment to a truly Global Britain.”
The visit comes six weeks after Austra- lian Prime Minister Scott Morrison an- nounced the AUKUS enhanced trilateral security partnership between Australia, the UK and the United States.
“The AUKUS partners have committed to bolstering our collective efforts in meet- ing the challenges posed by our strategic circumstances in the Indo-Pacific,” Min- ister for Defence Peter Dutton said.
“The Royal Navy’s visit to Perth reflects this commitment but is also a clear demon- stration of the strong ties between our two navies that go back more than a century.
“We look forward to continued engage- ment over the coming decades as we work together in the pursuit of a secure, stable and prosperous region.”
“It’s a real privilege to see our design team push the boundaries of traditional small arms solutions. Our future systems include automated and augmented fea- tures enabled by modern networked sen- sors and sovereign Artificial Intelligence while the system architecture is being de- veloped to support integration with next generation soldier systems. Our industrial plan is designed to support the manufac- ture, maintenance and upgrade of our future systems and seeing this first phase come to life is very rewarding for our Lith- gow teams,” Graham Evenden, Director Integrated Weapons & Sensors, said.
THALES TO EXPAND PRECISION MANUFACTURING IN LITHGOW
THALES Australia will invest $6.5 million in the first phase of an industrial plan to transform its Lithgow Arms facility.
Phase 1 of the plan will establish a mod- ern manufacturing and integration hub for the design, development and precision manufacture of next generation weapons systems for the ADF, industrial partners and export customers.
According to Thales, this phase of the new development will integrate both tradi- tional precision manufacturing and digital technologies, including 3D printing, and the installation of automated electro-plat- ing and other metal treatment capabilities. It will also include a new purpose-built live firing test and evaluation capability to support systems integration, and the acceleration of research and technology development of digitised small-arms and weapon system platforms.
The new development will expand the
precision-manufacturing capability of Lithgow Arms to support new manufac- turing partnerships for strategic ADF pro- grams, including the recently announced partnership with Rheinmetall Defence Australia to manufacture key components for Rheinmetall in support of Land 400.
“Lithgow has been the home of small arms manufacturing for over a century. Transforming Australia’s manufacturing ca- pability benefits Australia’s self-reliance and evolves the capability of the broader Australian advanced manufacturing sector, which is essential in growing
local jobs, and delivering advanced ca- pability advantage to the ADF,” Corry Roberts, Vice President Land, Thales Australia & New Zealand, said.
RIGHT: The new development will expand the precision-manufacturing capability of Lithgow Arms.
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