Lithgow Arms wins NSW government grant

Thales Australia’s Lithgow Arms business said it welcomed the announcement by Australia’s New South Wales government of a $1.12 million grant from the NSW Regional Job Creation Fund Round 2 to help grow its advanced manufacturing capability in regional New South Wales. The funding will be matched dollar for dollar by Thales Australia and will be invested in modern manufacturing capability and equipment at Thales’ Lithgow site with the aim of creating a further 56 jobs to increase production capacity on both military and civil manufacturing lines, as well support export growth over the next three years. Lithgow Arms currently exports its world-leading small arms to 17 countries and has been a key industrial partner to the Australian Defence Force providing small arms and weapons systems, as well as providing end to end logistics and sustainment, to its soldiers for more than a century. Corry Roberts, Vice President of Land, Thales Australia and New Zealand, thanked the NSW government for its continued support of Thales Lithgow Arms facility. “It’s great to see the NSW Government supporting NSW Defence businesses like Thales Australia to help ensure critical engineering and manufacturing skills remain in the state. Lithgow Arms is the only small arms manufacturing capability of its type in Australia and we are proud to be a major employer in regional NSW. Our workforce is highly skilled and multi-generational. Lithgow Arms has a proud 110-year history of sovereign small arms production for Defence and this is part of a plan for the next phase of production.” The grant further builds on Thales Australia’s $70 million investment over the past decade to develop the Lithgow facility, including the new $6.5 million building currently under construction at the site to create a modern manufacturing and integration hub for the design, development and precision manufacture of next generation weapons systems for the ADF and industrial partners and export customers. For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Kym Bergmann at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Director of Sales Graham Joss at [email protected]