Canberra-headquartered XTEK Limited has announced that it has signed a A$830,000 grant agreement from the Centre for Defence Industry Capability (CDIC) for a Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority (SICP) grant, on behalf of the Department of Defence.
The SICP grant provides funding to support Australian small-to-medium enterprises (SME) in supplying capabilities that are most critical to defence.
“We are pleased to be a recipient of the SICP Grant, representing continued support and validation by the Australian Department of Defence of the advanced capabilities of our XTclave manufactured ballistic armour. The funding supports the execution of our broader strategy to commercialise our state-of-the-art technology by enhancing the production and testing capability for our proprietary ballistic helmets”, says XTEK’s Managing Director Philippe Odouard.
The SICP grant will contribute funds to XTEK for its ballistic combat helmet product line, and follows the company opening up a new manufacturing centre in Adelaide is expected to increase production capacity of XTEK’s XTclave manufactured composite products.
The company says that the establishment of this centre was supported by a previous A$1m SICP Grant, and announced in March that it will fulfil a contract to manufacture ballistic armour for a specialist Australian law enforcement unit.
XTEK has also previously been awarded contracts relating to the acquisition and support of the Army’s AeroVironment Wasp AE Small Unmanned Air Systems, and supplied chest armour plates to the Army’s Diggerworks for evaluation.
The Company has recently acquired HighCom Armour Solutions Inc (HighCom), a provider of proprietary body armour and personal protective equipment focused on the US market, as part of its strategy and accelerating the commercialisation of its ballistic solutions by leveraging HighCom’s established network and existing business.
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