Page 62 - Australian Defence Magazine March-April 2022

62 FROM THE SOURCE MATTHEW JONES
MARCH-APRIL 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
deliver that type of capability is remote weapon systems. EOS sits at the sweet spot around the delivery of those remote weapon systems. Achieving the levels of accuracy, safety and reliability that EOS has already demonstrated through its mature products is difficult and expensive, and we expect that, certainly, the quality, reliability and perfor- mance that we can achieve will mean that EOS is in a very
strong competitive position in the global market.
ADM: What are some of the challenges facing Australian companies trying to export overseas?
It’s not just Australia that’s looking to develop sovereign
BELOW: Head of Land Capability Major General Simon Stuart, sponsor for C4EDGE, Major General Kath Toohey, Head Joint Force Integration, VCDF Group, and Major General Susan Coyle, Head Information Warfare Division, Joint Capabilities Group, at a VIP demonstration event for Australian Army
ises have been made about global supply chains being a panacea for the Australian defence industry. I don’t think that’s actually been proven yet.
It’s a hard road to try to be a niche player in a global sup- ply chain that includes international primes that already have mature supply chains from their local markets. There have been some successes, but I think they’re very few and far between. That’s a big challenge.
For example, we’ve actually been asked to take Australian technology that’s been mandated for an Australian system to meet an Australian contractual requirement and integrate it in a foreign country to meet a particular prime’s offset obliga- tions. They've selected key components of that system on the basis that they had offset obligations they had to meet for a foreign sale into a European country.
Those components are now being forced onto the ADF, because that’s the prime’s preference. Now, I know Australia doesn’t believe in offset obligations, but when those obligations from the third party are actually removing work from Austra- lian companies and Australian contracts, that’s problematic.
Currently, the only way to really be seen as competitive and to have a solution that the ADF would acquire is to suc- cessfully deploy or deliver it internationally, and then have
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“I AM VERY MUCH OF THE VIEW THAT SOVEREIGNTY IN THE AUSTRALIAN CONTEXT IS NOT CLEAR”
solutions; it’s a trend that’s happening around the world. That means that if we want to look to deploy or deliver capability through export markets, we need to be willing to do the work in the local market to partner and deliver a solution that gives them the type of control and the level of capability they’re seeking.
There are very few countries out there that are looking for a solution that they can just buy off a shelf and drop onto a platform. They really want the investment and the transfer of technology. That’s some- thing that Australian companies need to be willing to em- brace. It’s not as simple as just trying to sell the product; it’s actually about long-term engagement in the market and understanding the customer, and then being willing to in- vest in the region that you’re looking to export to and grow
the local capability in partnership with that entity.
There are certainly question marks around the perfor- mance of the global supply chain program. A lot of prom-
EOS