Page 6 - Australian Defence Magazine June 2021

6 NEWS REVIEW INDUSTRY UPDATE
JUNE 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
WILL THE DEFENCE MANUFACTURING ROADMAP DELIVER FOR AUSTRALIA?
ROYA GHODSI | SYDNEY
technologies to contribute to defence pri- ority capabilities.
However, Dr Jens Goennemann, Man- aging Director of the Advanced Manu- facturing Growth Centre (AMGC), iden- tifies a number of challenges ahead.
“Each initiative is only as valuable as its implementation,” Dr Goennemann said to ADM. “To have a roadmap developed by one ministry for another makes me wonder if this is the best precondition for success – it certainly has not been so in the past.
“We are now at our seventh industry min- ister since 2014. This is not the best track record to develop, and stick to, an industry policy that delivers long-term results,” Dr Goennemann said. “As far as manufactur- ing is concerned, it is only now that Austra- lian politicians start to appreciate manufac- turing capability – civil and military.”
Dr Goennemann also highlighted the challenge of turning contractual AIC ob- ligations into results that benefit all of Australia.
“We have secured the obligation from our offshore defence suppliers that the majority of significant projects are manufactured on- shore – and there is a big difference between the ‘holistic’ term of manufacturing and to just put something together like a piece of Ikea furniture,” Dr Goennemann said.
“Currently, Australia’s capability to manufacture complex things, measured via the Economic Complexity Index, ranks between Burkina Faso and Sen- egal. We are kidding ourselves if we believe we can benefit as a nation from the obligations we have contractually se- cured and the advancements we seek.
“We must throw all our weight behind the development of our manufacturing capability, not only for defence, but for Australia.”
DEFENCE industry has been included as one of six key areas of focus in the gov- ernment’s $1.5 billion Modern Manu- facturing Strategy (MMS), but there are questions over whether the roadmap will deliver wider benefi s to Australia.
The MMS was established to “strength- en Australia’s manufacturing capability by helping manufacturers scale-up, be- come more competitive and build more resilient supply chains.”
The Defence National Manufacturing Priority road map outlines more specific manufacturing growth opportunities in the defence sector and sets out plans to realise an “Australian defence manufac- turing base which delivers world-leading capabilities for the ADF and responsible exports in our national interest.”
Under the plan, manufacturers will invest more in addressing Defence prior- ity capabilities and improving ‘linkages within the defence ecosystem’ within the next two years.
The five-year target sees greater manu- facturing capability and increased par- ticipation in defence supply chains by Australian businesses, and in particular, smaller manufacturers will scale up to create “the underrepresented ‘middle’ of the defence industry.”
In a decade, it is hoped that “more Aus- tralian businesses will be contributing to local and international defence supply
LEFT: Defence industry has been included as one of six key areas of focus in the government’s $1.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy.
chains, while more Australian innovation and intellectual property will be contrib- uted to products supplied to the ADF and other markets.”
In order to reach these goals, the road map outlines growth opportunities with- in three main areas: the defence sector, international markets and cross-sector applications.
The road map identifies potential for growth within the defence sector by le- veraging emerging technologies and scale manufacturing of products and compo- nents which support ADF priorities.
Internationally, there is opportunity to expand capabilities to service new and ex- isting export markets in products such as armoured vehicles, advanced radar systems and patrol boats, according to the road map.
Manufacturers can also look to di- versify cross-sector applications, such as space domain awareness equipment, including sensor networks, and medical countermeasures, including diagnostic tools and personal protective equipment.
The road map outlined a number of actions to be taken by Government and industry in order to capture these oppor- tunity areas, including: investment into defence capability priorities in order to drive productivity, skills and innovation; investment into demonstrating or com- mercialising products that have a poten- tial for export; and adapting non-defence
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