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Australian Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy has toured defence companies in Queensland in a show of support for domestic manufacturing.
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Conroy visited a number of Defence-related businesses throughout the Brisbane region to discuss growth and policy, earlier this month.
It’s understood he met with representatives of Australian rocket motor manufacturing company Black Sky Aerospace (BSA) as well as F-35 and MQ-4C aircraft component manufacturer Ferra Engineering.
“I had the opportunity to visit Black Sky Aerospace’s new facility in southeast Queensland and see the production of ammonium perchlorate, a key ingredient in solid rocket motors," he said during the tour.
“Black Sky Aerospace is a local manufacturer of solid rocket fuel, motors, launch vehicles and services.
“(As well as a) great tour of Ferra Engineering ... looking at the work they are doing on major Defence projects such as the MQ-28 Ghost Bat.
“Ferra Engineering are employing highly skilled locals and helping to deliver on important sovereign defence capabilities.”
Minister Conroy also held an industry roundtable with more than 20 Australian companies to discuss topics such as building a sovereign defence industrial base, research and innovation and key strategic documents such as the 2024 National Defence Strategy, the 2024 Integrated Investment Program, and the Defence Industry Development Strategy.
Last year, the Queensland-based Black Sky Aerospace successfully launched a prototype long-range missile from the back of a privately owned Mercedes-Benz Unimog.
The launch took place on what is believed to be the largest private launch range in the world, Black Sky’s 3-million-acre site in the south-western Queensland outback – the 3.7-metre long, 229mm diameter TM229 “Cyclone” training missile was fired remotely from a custom weapon pod, all of which were manufactured in Australia, and mounted on the back of an ex-Army truck.
The training missile was designed to simulate the experience of firing much more sophisticated and expensive missiles so trainees can gain live fire qualifications at significantly reduced cost.
“It’s important that homegrown businesses don’t stay idle. BSA is developing, refining, and perfecting its capabilities to respond to government announcements on Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance so there are local options available to produce these vital defence capabilities,” Black Sky Aerospace chief executive officer Blake Nikolic said at the time.
“As the first firing, this was about testing the system, the launch, and the design of the missile, and we were able to gather valuable data for future launches. The hardware, launch pod, avionics, propellant, rocket motor, and nozzle were all manufactured in Australia, by Australians – this is a great advancement for sovereign missile development, with huge export opportunities.
“BSA will continue development work on its suite of products, all fully conceived, designed, manufactured, and tested in Australia.”
