Page 16 - Australian Defence Magazine February 2022

16 NEWS REVIEW INDUSTRY UPDATE
FEBRUARY 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
ADF TO ACQUIRE MORE HELLFIRE MISSILES
NIGEL PITTAWAY | MELBOURNE
ON 20 December, the US Defense Security Co-operation Agency (DSCA) announced that the State Department has approved a possible sale of up to 800 Lockheed Martin AGM-114R2 Hellfire missiles to Australia, valued up to US$108 million ($A150 million).
Also included in the potential sale, which would be enacted under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) mechanism, is tech- nical assistance, publications, spare parts, repair and return functions and storage.
“The proposed sale will improve Austra- lia’s capability to meet current and future threats by enhancing the Australian Ar- my’s armed reconnaissance and anti-tank warfare mission capabilities,” the DSCA
LEFT: The new variant is likely to become the baseline air to ground missile for the proposed Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters.
said in a release to announce the potential contract.
The principal contractor will be Lock- heed Martin and the release notes that any offset agreement will need to be conduct- ed between the company and Defence.
The Australian Army already uses the AGM-114R missile on its Airbus Ti- ger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters (ARH) and the new variant is likely to become the baseline air to ground missile for the proposed Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters. The AGM- 114R is also employed by the RAN on its Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk Naval Combat Helicopters.
The AGM-114R2 version of the Hellfire missile weighs 108 pounds (49 kg) and in- corporates a Height of Burst (HOB) sensor which improves fragmentation over the point of detonation.
and a new regional presence for Nova Sys- tems,” McDowell said.
Under Plan Galileo, Defence is focusing naval sustainment on Regional Maintenance Centres (RMCs), of which the first is RMC Cairns (this announcement is delayed from an initially reported date of Q4 2021).
The second – RMC West at Henderson – is expected next quarter. Defence says it anticipates a 200 per cent local fleet weight increase in Australia’s northeast and an 88 percent increase in the north through the lifespan of the National Naval Shipbuilding Enterprise.
REGIONAL MAINTENANCE PROVIDER NORTH EAST ANNOUNCED
TEAM NORSTA, an Australian owned and controlled joint venture team of Norship, Tropical Reef Shipyard, Nova Systems and Secora, has been announced as the new Re- gional Maintenance Provider North East.
NORSTA will be tasked with managing the maintenance of RAN ships in Cairns.
“We are proud to be part of a truly sov- ereign partnership which is the first of the RAN’s Regional Maintenance Centres for the RANs Plan Galelio Future Maritime Sustainment Model. The contract encom- passes the management of maintenance of RAN ships at Cairns Australian-owned and controlled shipyards,” Jim McDowell, Group CEO, Nova Systems, said.
“Nova Systems draw on our deep level skills to support the development of an in- novative engineering and maintenance so- lution for the new Regional Maintenance Provider North East contract and will
now, as part of Team NORSTA, continue to support NORSTA Maritime through a locally recruited and re-located team.”
NORSTA Maritime has the capacity to service Australian and foreign ships in Cairns in the first agreement of its kind and will be a test site for further agreements.
“Nova Systems is excited to bring our team to Far North Queensland. This op- portunity will see the creation of local jobs
RIGHT: General Manager for Tropical Reef Shipyard Rob Downing, CEO Norship Olav Groot, Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch, Minister for Defence Peter Dutton and Independent Chair for NORSTA Maritime Major General (Ret’d) Maurie McNarn.
DEFENCE
NIGEL PITTAWAY