Two of Australia’s leading sovereign defence companies, Electro Optic Systems (EOS) and Nova Systems, have announced the first 100 percent Australian controlled joint venture to deliver the Commonwealth’s sovereign guided weapons enterprise – the Sovereign Missile Alliance. The Sovereign Missile Alliance (SMA) offers the Commonwealth an Australian owned, operated and controlled sovereign strategic industry partner that will establish and deliver a Sovereign Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance Enterprise (GWEOE) capability in the short, medium and long term.
With a collective workforce of more than 1,000 local employees and a domestic supply chain of more than 600 Australian businesses, the SMA has the resources, funding and breadth of capabilities, products and technologies to uniquely provide the critical mass required to initiate the GWEOE, including:
• Sovereign management and control;
• An extensive supply chain network qualified to defence aerospace standards;
• Design and development of military aerospace products;
• Test and evaluation, certification and systems assurance;
• Systems integration;
• Rocket motors and propulsion; and
• Advanced technology from the largest R&D and tertiary collaboration programs in the Australian defence industry.
As a mid-tier entity of scale, the SMA can leverage its sovereign partner companies EOS and Nova Systems and their established and resilient sovereign supply chain. A critical objective of the enterprise will be to remain missile vendor-neutral overall. As the sovereign guided weapons enterprise, the SMA will not require the approvals or permissions of foreign partners to deliver Australia’s current and emerging missile requirements.
“The sovereign capability to deliver guided weapons already exists in-country and the SMA creates an Australian owned entity of scale with the required capabilities, resources, funding and established relationships across the broader Defence ecosystem to start this journey with the Commonwealth now,” said Jim McDowell, Group CEO, Nova Systems. “The SMA will establish a sustainable, domestic capacity through a Common User Facility to manufacture customer-selected foreign missiles under license, using our indigenous supply chain.” Nova Systems is a 100 percent Australian owned and controlled Professional Service Provider, specialising in the provision of engineering and management services, providing clients with expertise in delivering complex projects. It has annual revenue of more than $300 million and an Australian workforce of more than 660 employees and engage an additional 300 local supply chain partners across all corners of the country, creating and supporting thousands of jobs.
“We have the core competencies, advanced R&D capabilities, existing IP, and established technology partnerships to create the next generation of guided weapons optimised for Australian requirements with full sovereign ownership and control. The Common User Facility will progressively move to produce these missiles,” said Dr Ben Greene, Group CEO, EOS. EOS is a publicly listed Australian company that operates in the Defence, Space and Communications sectors and is a leader in the design, supply, development and support of space control, missile defence, electro-optic sensors, surface warfare systems, kinetic and directed energy weapons, space-based communication, C4I systems and advanced electronics and controls. EOS has the technology in sensors, seekers, stabilisation, countermeasures, thermal design and guidance and control including C2 systems for Anti-Tank Guided Missiles and Surface to Air Missiles. EOS is Australia’s largest defence exporter, with around $200 million in defence exports in 2021 and a team of over 550 personnel globally.
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