Minister for Defence Materiel and Science, Greg Combet toured Chemring Australia to view the products being showcased at the Stacey’s Road Lara site.
The tour took Mr Combet, Corio MP Richard Marles and Corangamite MP Darren Cheeseman through a pyrotechnic and EOD demonstration followed with a meeting with workers assembling parts for smoke grenades.
Mr Combet had announced that Defence has agreed to enter in a long-term agreement with Chemring Australia for the in-country manufacture of pyrotechnics and air-expendable stores such as flares and chaff.
Mr Combet further said ‘the establishment of an in-country manufacture capability positions Chemring Australia to demonstrate the capacity to manufacture these items for the JSF project and this will allow them to compete for work on the global fleet’.
If successful Chemring have the potential to be contracted to develop flares to protect the fifth generation aircraft being built in the USA, creating up to 80 more jobs at the Lara facility.
Michael Flowers, Managing Director has said, “The Government’s investment has helped us financially so we can be competitive, and it has shown our stakeholders that the Government is supportive so they will continue to invest and we can expand locally”.
Rob Wharton, EOD Manager demonstrates the MInehound VMR2 Dual Sensor Detector to Mr Marles, Mr Combet and Mr Cheeseman.
Mr Combet inspects the Lara site in which $160 million was invested in for the Joint Strike Fighter program.
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