defence

David Singleton, the CEO and managing director of Poseidon Nickel, will take over as CEO at shipbuilder Austal.

A hull section, completed last Friday and unveiled yesterday at Henderson, WA, demonstrated a new way of doing business for advanced manufacturers, said ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.

Thyssen Krupp Marine Services has said it wants to use ASC’s shipyards to create a hub for building and sustaining combat boats in the Pacific.

Adelaide’s Levett Engineering has won a commendation from Lockheed Martin for the supply of components to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Stable Engineering Services of Morwell, Victoria is pushing for work with TKMS Australia if the defence company is successful in winning the Future Submarines contract.

The depreciation in the Australian dollar has seen manufacturing exports up sharply, led by high-value companies selling into global supply chains.

Senior members of the Japanese government are visiting to give the country’s bid to build Australia’s submarines a last-ditch boost.

Professor Toby Walsh, an artificial intelligence expert from UNSW’s School of Computer Science and Engineering, will speak at the United Nations in New York this week, calling for a ban on autonomous weapons.

The AMWU wants Thales Australia to ensure that most components in its Hawkei military vehicles, to be made in Victoria, are also made locally.

Siemens, Defence Science and Technology Group and QUT have signed a research agreement to explore the use of high temperature superconducting (HTS) technologies in Australia.

Lobbying by “competitive evaluation process” participants has stepped up, with the Japanese revealing that they would share even their most sensitive technology if their submarine build proposal was successful.

Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced a $1.3 billion contract for Thales Australia to build 1,100 new Protected Mobility Vehicles (PMVs) in Bendigo.

New industry minister Chris Pyne has said this morning that all three contenders in the “Competitive Evaluation Process” have said they’d prefer to build Australia’s upcoming fleet of submarines in Australia.

Navies may soon be equipped with 3D printed – as well as unmanned surface and underwater – vessels, according to a report by Qinetic Group.

Thales has signed to build Enhanced F88 rifles for the Australian Defence Force, and has said this would assist it to also target increased exports.

The government has unveiled a centrepiece of its coming Defence White Paper, bringing forward a A$40 billion program to build surface warships, centred on the economically ailing state of South Australia.

Lockheed Martin will acquire Sikorsky, the maker of the Black Hawk helicopters, for $US 9 billion, one of its biggest ever purchases.

Leaked details of Defence white paper discussions suggest uncertainty around shipbuilding in Newcastle and Melbourne will continue.

Prime minister Tony Abbott has given an “absolute guarantee” of more jobs in South Australia, regardless of who wins the controversial “competitive evaluation process”.

More and more international trade is being made up of intermediate goods and services. Brent Balinski reports on some of the efforts to get Australian manufacturers better involved in this.