LOCAL Australian aerospace and defence component manufacturer, Production Parts has been awarded, by Thales Australia, a new multi-million dollar contract to supply components for the international MU90 Torpedo program.
The MU90 is an advanced lightweight anti-submarine torpedo developed by EuroTorp and is currently also in use by the French, Italian, and German navies.
Thales Australia will locally assemble DCNS-designed battery sections for integration into EuroTorp MU90 torpedoes, which will in turn be supplied to the Australian Defence Force.
The company will be producing external hulls and other internal components as part of this program.
Production Parts’ Managing Director, Peter Nicholls stated, “This is a great example of Australian capability accessing the international supply chain and we have been delighted by the relationship with Thales Australia and the opportunity we have developed together and are very enthusiastic about the potential for future work it creates with Thales Australia.”
The contract provides local industry with numerous benefits, including, increasing staff skills, production technology transfer and ensuring Australia stays at the forefront of international defence and aerospace manufacturing.
“This large scale project has enabled our company to grow, to invest in additional training of our staff, to purchase new machining equipment and has also provided us the opportunity to appoint several new apprentices into the team. We’re very excited to be a part of this milestone program.” Nicholls said
The Commonwealth of Australia has ordered the torpedoes under Phase 3 of Joint Project 2070 (Project Djimindi), which is managed through the Djimindi Alliance.
The MU90 will eventually replace the current lightweight torpedoes aboard Adelaide and ANZAC Class frigates.
The first batch of European-made MU90s has already been delivered to the Commonwealth, with the program due for completion in early 2012.
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