Page 57 - Australian Defence Magazine June 2022

JUNE 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
SMALL TO MEDIUM ENTERPRISES DEFENDTEX 57
ADM: What are some of the things in place
that are working to support your growth
as an SME?
REDDY: It’s easy to talk about the negatives,
because we all want the system to work
at optimum levels. But I’ve seen nothing
but forward momentum in the Australian
defence industry in the seven years that
we’ve been in business. The Defence In-
novation Hub is a very effective funding
mechanism if used properly. The Sovereign Industry Ca- pability Priority Grants have allowed us to gain manu- facturing capabilities that we wouldn’t have been able to afford previously, and that level of vertical integration that we’ve achieved through our own sovereign printed circuit board manufacturing, and electronics manufac- turing, and in-house CNC workshop, allows us to have very tight turnaround times in the ideation process. This allows our engineers to design something, fabricate, test it in our indoor range on the same day, and then iterate the design the next day. So, with funding support, we have very tight turn cycles, which gives us the agility we need to be leaders in defence innovation.
The ADF, and particularly the Australian Army, has also been very good at providing an opportunity for new
technology to be evaluated by soldiers. The Dismounted Combat Program through the combat application lab gives us the ability to insert new technology and find out how sol- diers use it, as opposed to us just thinking about the way it works on a whiteboard and hoping that we’re building something sol- diers need. Now, there is the opportunity for soldiers to use emerging technology as the opposition force (OPFOR) in an exercise, so
they can try different tactics, techniques and procedures and see what effect new technology has on the way they perform their duties. This partnership between industry and defence has been really important for us.
The biggest issue is the distinction between need and want. Defence is very good at playing chess, if we consider warfare to be chess. They have all the pieces, they know the rules, they go off and learn the best way to utilise those pieces to win. We, as defence industry have the ability to produce brand new chess pieces with brand new rules. And if we work hand in hand, we can produce new capability that will allow Defence to employ new strategies, which is where we get force multiplication. But that requires a two- way dialogue, requiring defence industry to be inside the tent, as opposed to outside the tent. ■
“IF WE DESIGN PRODUCT PURELY TO BE CONSUMED BY THE ADF, THAT WILL NEVER SUPPORT A COMPANY OF OUR SIZE”
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