The Australian government’s investment in innovative Australian defence industry businesses has soared past A$300 million. The major milestone for the Defence Innovation Hub comes with the announcement of 10 new contracts worth almost A$20 million for defence industry, taking the total number of contracts signed by the Hub to over 150.
Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price said the milestone was testament to the government’s support for Aussie ingenuity and know-how to help protect the men and women of the Australian Defence Force. “This major milestone demonstrates the Morrison Government’s commitment to nurturing the Australia’s sovereign defence industry and innovation capability,” Price said. “We are helping local companies to develop new technology to help keep Australia safe. The Defence Innovation Hub’s investment strategy has played a transformative role for Australia’s small-to-medium businesses and the way in which they innovate and support Defence requirements. It is rewarding to have Australian businesses continue their partnership with the Hub and mature their innovations towards delivering the future capabilities that Defence needs.”
Nine of the 10 new contracts will allow the companies to continue developing promising technologies that have already benefited from previous Defence Innovation Hub funding. The contracts were awarded to businesses in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia in support of Army and Navy capabilities. “I am particularly delighted to announce a $2.7 million contract with Western Australia’s Mission Systems Australia to further develop a networked underwater acoustic sensor for Navy,” Price said. “This is the largest Hub contract awarded to a WA company to date. The A$300 million investment milestone demonstrates the growing success of Australia’s defence industry and innovation sector as they partner with Defence to build truly sovereign game-changing military capability,” Price said.
Industry and research organisations can submit innovation proposals through the Defence Innovation Portal at: www.innovationhub.defence.gov.au. Contracts announced today under the latest round of Defence Innovation Hub funding are:
| Organisation | State | Contract Value (GST incl.) | Description of innovation |
| RingIR Pty Ltd | VIC | $3.9 million | To develop a portable device capable of promptly identifying dangerous chemicals and explosives. |
| Anywise Consulting Pty Ltd | VIC | $3.1 million | To continue to develop an integrated software and device system to monitor the wear and tear of bridges in deployed environments. |
| Mission Systems Australia Pty Ltd | WA | $2.7 million | To develop a networked underwater acoustic sensor. |
| Mincham Aviation Pty Ltd | SA | $2.2 million | To continue to develop a tube-launched aerial delivery system for rapid and accurate payload delivery in maritime environments. |
| TAE Gas Turbines Pty Ltd | QLD | $2.2 million | To develop a single-stage engine filter for the existing fleet of Abrams tanks for improved performance and efficiency. |
| Marathon Targets Pty Ltd | NSW | $1.6 million | To continue to develop an unmanned, realistic and self-propelled vehicle target to support Australian Defence Force training. |
| Mediaware International Pty Ltd | ACT | $1.6 million | To develop an information processing system that integrates data to present a single visualisation for accelerated decision making. |
| Sentient Vision Pty Ltd | VIC | $1.3 | To develop an enhanced visual detection system for use in reduced visibility conditions to detect and classify objects of interest. |
| BAE Systems Australia Limited | VIC | $1.1 million | To develop a software-based decision support system to extract tactically useful information from maritime environments and facilitate accelerated decision making. |
| Defendtex Research Labs | VIC | $263,000 | To develop a gas to disable a combustion engine, removing the need for explosives or tank traps. |
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