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Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price has announced the release of the first two Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority Implementation Plans to support the development of Australia’s domestic defence industry.
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Minister Price announced the plans for munitions and small arms research, design, development and manufacture; and for the combat clothing survivability and signature reduction technologies.
Minister Price said the plans provided information and set key priorities on how the Australian government would work with defence industry to build and grow sovereign industrial capabilities.
The Defence Industrial Capability Plan introduces the new Sovereign Industrial Capability Assessment Framework to provide a repeatable methodology to identify Sovereign Industrial Capability Priorities.
"They provide a useful roadmap to help current and aspiring defence industry businesses understand the capability priorities of the Australian Defence Force, now and into the future," Minister Price said.
In approaching development of the priorities, we focused on a definition of sovereign industrial capability around access to, or control over, the essential skills, technology, intellectual property, financial resources and infrastructure within our defence industrial base as required.
The initial Sovereign Industrial Capability Priorities are the result of a rigorous assessment framework that looked at the strategic, capability, and resources dimensions of industrial sovereignty – and made judgements based on Defence needs.
The government’s priority is to provide the Australian Defence Force with cost-effective, cutting-edge capability while also maximising Australian industry involvement.
In this context, the initial priorities will focus on areas that are operationally critical to the Defence mission; priorities within the Integrated Investment Program over the next three to five years; or those in need of more dedicated monitoring, management and support due to their industrial complexity, government priority or requirements across multiple capability programs.
Priorities are described at the capability level with a focus on technologies rather than companies or products. This approach will encourage innovation and new developments across the Integrated Investment Program capability streams and individual projects.
Effective implementation of the priorities requires them to be embedded early into strategic planning and Defence capability planning processes and across the capability life cycle. This will be a core task of Defence Industry Policy Division.
The Sovereign Industrial Capability Priorities will be managed, supported and considered throughout the capability life cycle and will start at the very beginning of defence planning through to disposal.
More information about the Sovereign Industrial Capability Priorities is available here.
Stephen Kuper
Steve has an extensive career across government, defence industry and advocacy, having previously worked for cabinet ministers at both Federal and State levels.
