Australia’s defence exports are rising and are now approximately $600 million a year. The Australian defence industry has evolved from supplying the Australian Defence Force to selling, to defence and security customers across the globe.

Our defence industry is world class in terms of quality and innovation. The most advanced of the Australian Defence Force’s platforms are maintained and repaired locally and the industry has demonstrated it is capable of manufacturing submarines, frigates and armoured vehicles, as well as completing sophisticated upgrades of a wide range of vessels and aircraft.

A strong research and development commitment has been required to match the often harsh land and sea environments that Australian equipment and systems will experience. For its modest scale, our industry has strong capability across aerospace, maritime, land, weapons and electronic systems domains.

Australia’s defence industries are adept at efficiently meeting the needs of smaller niche contracts, through to participation in large global projects such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter – the United States next generation strike aircraft. Twenty Australian companies have already won work estimated at US$90 million.

The US military has shown strong interest in our large catamarans and has contracted an Australian-US joint venture to design and build the first Littoral Combat Ship for the U.S. Navy. Australia is also a major participant in New Zealand’s Project Protector new vessel acquisition program. In fact, Australian exports range from radar and military vehicles to logistics, maintenance and training services.

As Minister for Trade, I have a strong commitment to raising international awareness of Australia’s capabilities and expertise. I encourage buyers interested in Australia’s defence industry capability to make contact with Austrade or the Defence Materiel Organisation.

Warren Truss
Minister for Trade