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Sydney-based advanced carbon fibre composite manufacturer, Quickstep Holdings, has been selected for more work in the global F-35 program following a recent visit to the US by Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price.
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Quickstep has been awarded 10 new composite parts in support of the Joint Strike Fighter Program, with the news coming just weeks after Prime Minister Morrison opened an expansion of the company’s Bankstown facility.
Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price recently returned from the US, where she visited Lockheed Martin and their F-35 partner Northrop Grumman to advocate for more Australian involvement in the global F-35 program.
"I knocked on the doors of the Pentagon, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to fight for more Australian F-35 work. This is a great start, but I will continue to advocate for more Australian work in the F-35 program," Minister Price said.
This work on the centre fuselage is in addition to the 35 unique components Quickstep already supplies into the global F-35 JSF program, and is expected to add an additional $3-4 million in annual revenue at full-rate production.
The Morrison government is investing $200 billion in the Australian defence industry, creating new jobs and delivering more opportunities for small business to export their capabilities overseas.
"This assignment is a testament to Quickstep’s invaluable work in the Australian defence industry and its export success. There is currently US$250,000 worth of Australian Quickstep equipment on every F-35 JSF globally," Minister Price added.
Mark Burgess, CEO and managing director of Quickstep, told Defence Connect, "Quickstep is delighted to be awarded this new contract for an additional 10 F-35 composite components. It represents positive recognition of our increasingly significant role in executing the program of record. We are very grateful to Minister Price and the government for their ongoing support on this and across all our business development activity in the US market."
This announcement follows the recent announcement that Quickstep Holdings had made $2.7 million profit for FY2019 on total sales of $73.3 million – this growth marks a 24 per cent increase on the $59 million sales announced in FY2018.
This also marks the first full year the company has enjoyed a positive operating cash flow – Quickstep's operational and financial turnaround has been driven by a number of key factors, including:
- Production of parts for Northrop Grumman for the Joint Strike Fighter Project;
- Production of C-130J wing flaps for Lockheed Martin;
- Production of parts for Joint Strike Fighter vertical tails for BAE Systems and Marand Precision Engineering;
- Manufacturing and development of parts using Qure technology; and
- Continued development of technologies for scaled volume production.
In particular, revenue from Quickstep's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter contracts rose 37 per cent to $53 million in FY2019 from $38.6 million in FY2018 – JSF revenues are expected to increase further in FY2020, at a more modest rate – reaching full-rate production over the next six-to-nine months.
So far, 50 Australian companies have shared in more than $1.69 billion in F-35 work, employing more than 2,400 Australian workers.
The government's push is on track to deliver more than 5,000 jobs in the F-35 program by 2023. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is billed as a catalyst for the fifth-generation revolution, changing the face and capability of the Royal Australian Air Force and the wider Australian Defence Force.
For the RAAF, the F-35A's combination of full-spectrum, low-observable stealth coatings and materials, advanced radar-dispersing shaping, network-centric sensor and communications suites – combined with a lethal strike capability – means the aircraft will be the ultimate force multiplying, air-combat platform.
The F-35A – the variant chosen by the RAAF – will have a projected life of 30 years in service.
Ten nations are currently flying F-35s, including the US, UK, Italy, Norway, Israel and Japan. The first of Australia’s F-35A aircraft are now based on home soil after a period of training and development at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, plus an epic Pacific Ocean crossing in December 2018.
More than 340 F-35s are operating today with partner nations, more than 700 pilots and 6,500 maintainers have been trained, and the F-35 fleet has surpassed more than 170,000 cumulative flight hours.
Over the coming years, Australia will purchase 72 of the advanced fifth-generation fighter aircraft as part of the $17 billion AIR 6000 Phase 2A/B program – which is aimed at replacing the ageing F/A-18A/B Classic Hornets that have been in service with the RAAF since 1985.
