Page 40 - Australian Defence Magazine March-April 2022

40 DEFENCE EXPORT
MARCH-APRIL 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
Manufacturer (OEM) – often because the existing US sup- port chain cannot cope with the volumes of work it has on its books. This is currently exacerbated by the transition to new platforms such as the F-35. An example of this success is TAE Aerospace, which has recently won significant repair and overhaul work from GE for components on the F414 engine fitted to US Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and EA- 18G Growlers, but this is outside the ADAC agreement.
While there have been great promises made about local MRO opportunities for the support of ‘po-
tentially hundreds’ of F-35s based in the
region, the international support program
is in its infancy. As a result, Australian business such as RUAG Australia and Quickstep face a gap between the comple- tion of work on legacy platforms and the tap being turned on for the support of new and recent acquisition contracts such as the F-35.
BUREAUCRATIC INERTIA
There has been a lot of talk about the importance of sover- eign capabilities, particularly with the backcloth of height- ened tensions and burgeoning military capabilities in the region, but sovereign capability cannot be turned on and off like a tap. First, there has to be a viable business case for companies to agree to take on the work and in the MRO sector, significant investment in facilities, tooling and train- ing has to occur. This takes a significant amount of time to plan and execute and the end result must justify the effort.
If Australia seriously desires a truly sovereign capability for its military, it cannot simply turn supply chain capa- bilities on and off at a whim and both cost and effort are
required if they are to be not only retained, but grown for the future.
So, to return to the question we posed earlier, if this ADAC MRO agreement is such a great initiative for all par- ties involved and noting the undoubted optimism of local industry, why have only two contracts been placed in all this time?
Despite the warm sentiments and promises of both the Australian and US governments when the ADAC agree- ment was announced – and reiterated at every AUSMIN meeting since 2008 – why
“THIS TAKES A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF TIME TO PLAN AND EXECUTEANDTHEENDRESULT MUST JUSTIFY THE EFFORT”
has almost nothing happened?
It would seem Defence and industry
SMEs and primes alike all understand the benefits to be gained under the ADAC MRO initiative and ADM understands it has the support of some elements of the US services. One example is the US Na-
vy’s maintenance organisation, which reportedly critically requires the capabilities Australian industry offers today to meet operational readiness targets.
ADM also understands however, the problem in this case lies within the US Navy’s contracting organisation, which consistently defaults to its US suppliers to fill overhaul and repair contracts and a way to overcome the impasse must be sought. Defence and the office of Defence Industry Minis- ter Melissa Price were contacted to support this story, but neither had responded to questions as we closed for press.
In the meantime – despite all the platitudes at the govern- ment-to-government level – it is arguably fair to conclude that sovereign Australian capability, which has taken years and significant amounts of money to build, is at risk simply because of bureaucratic inertia at intermediate levels. ■
LEFT: RUAG Australia faces a gap between completion of ‘Classic’ F/A-18 Hornet work and the ramp up of F-35 work, which contracts under ADAC can bridge
RUAG AUSTRALIA