• Staff and guests listen to Rheinmetall Defence Australia MD Gary Stewart speaking in front of a Rheinmetall Boxer CRV. Credit: ADM David Jones
    Staff and guests listen to Rheinmetall Defence Australia MD Gary Stewart speaking in front of a Rheinmetall Boxer CRV. Credit: ADM David Jones
  • Rheinmetall Defence Australia MD Gary Stewart (L) with QLD Minister Milton Dick, Boxer CRV as backdrop. Credit: ADM David Jones
    Rheinmetall Defence Australia MD Gary Stewart (L) with QLD Minister Milton Dick, Boxer CRV as backdrop. Credit: ADM David Jones
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Last Friday, Hilton Manufacturing officially joined the list of companies supplying parts to the Rheinmetall Defence Australia bid for Land 400 Phase 2 and beyond.

Hilton joins a host of Australian companies such as NIOA , Bissalloy, Cablex, Direct Edge, G&O Kerty, Hofmann Engineering, Nezkot Precision Tooling & Engineering, Redarc, SupaShock and Tectonica as partners to Rheinmetall in the major project. The company is already the preferred supplier to Volvo & Mack, Kenworth, Mercedes, Iveco and Western Star of fuel tanks and associated mounting components.

Queensland Minister for State Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Planning, Cameron Dick, gave an opening address to the assembled group of over 80 work staff and invited guests, and noted the plans by Rheinmetall to engage with not just Queensland companies, but those Australia-wide.

He commented that over 300 companies have been sourced in other states, not to mention some 250 in Queensland, all with the aim, should Rheinmetall's Boxer CRV be selected, to create an enduring sovereign capability for defence products, including exports, through the development of a Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence (MILVEHCOE). 

Rheinmetall Defence Australia MD Gary Stewart with QLD Minister Milton Dick, Boxer CRV as backdrop. CVredit: ADM David Jones
Rheinmetall Defence Australia MD Gary Stewart with QLD Minister Cameron Dick with the Boxer CRV. Credit: ADM David Jones

Rheinmetall Defence Australia MD Gary Stewart said he and his team had been very impressed with what they had found, and the process to source suppliers had uncovered some “real gems in industry, all with a wide range of technical and manufacturing disciplines and capabilities”.

He noted that while governments' have naturally focused on the benefits to each state, Rheinmetall’s attention has always been on what it could bring to Australia as a whole; “the project is too big to find all the answers in one state”.

Specifically, Stewart outlined the focus was on:

  1. creating a regional hub bringing together all the parties;
  2. in the future, exporting world-class systems and technologies;
  3. providing regional employment so all can prosper;
  4. mentoring SMEs to assist them to become a powerhouse of new ideas, not just on Land 400 and similar, but far more wide-ranging;
  5. undertaking continuous development so that Boxer, Lance, Lynx and similar systems remain at the forefront; and
  6. investing in technological research to ensure all this is possible.

Stewart concluded his remarks by thanking the Queensland Government for their support throughout the process, for the assistance in land acquisition and project planning, and for having the foresight and understanding to see the possibilities and potential many years ago.

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