Page 39 - Australian Defence Magazine March-April 2022

MARCH-APRIL 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
DEFENCE EXPORT 39
SUPPORT FROM THE PRIMES
The specialist MRO companies and supporting small to medium enterprises are not the only potential beneficiaries of the agreement: industry primes such as Airbus, Boeing and Lockheed Martin have complex platforms in ADF ser- vices and have in many cases built a robust local overhaul and repair chain around their activities in Australia.
The relatively lower volume of work required to support the ADF fleets, which are usually only a tiny fraction of those of their US counterparts, often makes a compelling case for primes to outsource some work. The primes are also accountable to Defence and Government for the avail- ability and performance of their products and there have been well-reported examples of acquisition contracts be- ing cancelled or platforms retired prematurely if they are deemed to not meet performance requirements. It is there- fore in their best interest if there are sustainable, resilient
and capable local suppliers and service providers to support their products in-country and the ADAC MRO initiative has received wide support from them as a result.
ADAC MRO SUCCESSES
Sadly though, despite the enthusiasm and optimism for the initiative, only two contracts have been awarded un- der the ADAC agreement and both of those were won by RUAG Australia in 2020. In September 2020, the company won a US Navy contract to support selected components for its F/A-18 Hornet fleet as an approved source of repair for Navy Supply (NAVSUP) within the Asia Pacific region. The following month, RUAG also announced the award of a NAVSUP contract to repair selected components of the US Navy’s MH-60R Seahawk helicopter fleet.
Other overhaul and repair organisations have won sig- nificant contracts directly from the Original Equipment
RUAG AUSTRALIA