Tasmania. 13 October 2019. Thales Australia has recognised that Tasmania’s world class Defence Innovation and Design Precinct will help create local jobs and drive defence-related research and development projects in the state.
Thales Australia CEO Chris Jenkins signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Australian Maritime College, becoming the first defence industry prime to commit to the precinct.
“The Federal Government’s $30 million funding to establish the Defence Innovation and Design Precinct in Tasmania reflects the range of smart innovations under development at the Australian Maritime College and from SMEs in Tasmania,” Jenkins said.
“Thales’s presence at the Precinct aims to encourage the development of new technologies and capabilities, including a sovereign acoustic testing capability for the next generation of Australian sonar technology, enhancing the capability of Australian submarine and surface ships over the decades ahead.
“Thales’s commitment to the Precinct is a vote of confidence that it will increase opportunities for greater collaboration between Defence, academia and industry to deliver cutting-edge defence capability.
“We are already working with a number of Tasmanian SMEs to deliver advanced capability to the Australian Defence Force, and through this ongoing collaboration we aim to further develop defence industry in Tasmania.
“It’s all driven by the Australian Government’s historic recapitalisation of the ADF, which is a great national endeavour that will drive innovation and benefit businesses right across the nation.
“This Agreement and the establishment of a sonar testing capability in Tasmania’s deep, cold and acoustically quiet lakes builds on more than 30 years of sonar development and manufacture in Australia in support of the Royal Australian Navy. It has also generated hundreds of millions of dollars of advanced technology exports from Australia,” Jenkins said.
“We will be working with AMC and industry participants like AMOG Consulting on advanced acoustic measurements to be taken at a wide range of speeds, over a number of distances, and with a high degree of precision, using equipment designed with the expertise of the AMC, ” he added.
“This MoU between international defence powerhouse Thales Australia and the Australian Maritime College is a major step towards realising Tasmania’s new Maritime Defence Innovation and Design Precinct and will be a game changer in cementing our place in the national defence sector, ” said Will Hodgman, Premier of Tasmania.
“Thales has been proudly supporting the RAN’s sonar capability since 1983. Today we continue to be a strategic partner with Navy and as we look to the future, ” Jenkins added.
“The University of Tasmania, through its flagship institute, the Australian Maritime College, is delighted to be working with Thales Australia. Thales’s commitment to world class research and development in the maritime domain, particularly through its work to develop world leading sonar systems for the Royal Australian Navy, is a fantastic example of academia and industry working together to support our national sovereign capability, ” said Rufus Black, Vice Chancellor University of Tasmania.
