News Review: BAE Systems opens new Townsville support facility | ADM Oct 2009

The $10 million facility was opened by Greg Combet, Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science, and is the home of BAE Systems' support program for the Australian Army's Black Hawk and Chinook helicopter fleets, employing 140 people.

The new facility replaces hangars dating back to World War II which lacked space, amenities and air conditioning.

"Over the past nine years BAE Systems has played an important role in assisting the preparations and sustainment of both Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters across a broad range of activities," Combet said.

"These activities have included operations in East Timor, the Middle East, Afghanistan, our local region and more recently in Papua New Guinea," Combet said.

"I would also like to applaud the efforts of the contractors and ADF staff involved in achieving outstanding levels of rate of effort for the Black Hawk fleet.

"I'm proud to announce that the Black Hawk Rate of Effort for the last financial year was an 11 per cent increase over the previous financial year, and the highest for more than six years."

Jim McDowell, Managing Director of BAE Systems Australia, said the new facility was perfectly placed to provide long term military aviation support to the ADF's airborne assets at Townsville, 5th Aviation Regiment and RAAF Base Townsville.

"It enables BAE Systems to provide state-of-the-art, safety critical deeper maintenance support to the ADF both now and for future programs such as the C-27J Spartan," he said, adding that BAE Systems is the only major military aviation support company with a commercially tenanted hangar presence in Townsville.

"Our investment reflects not only the company's commitment to North Queensland but also our willingness to be a major stakeholder in the Northern Australian Aerospace Centre of Excellence (NAACEX) being established at Townsville Airport," McDowell said.

The two hangars, joined by a central atrium, occupy 5,500 square metres.

Each can accommodate an aircraft up to the size of a Boeing 737 and offer direct access to the taxiway.

McDowell said BAE Systems had also invested heavily in aerospace training and enhancing the skills of its technical workforce in the Townsville region.

He said a total of eight employees or almost 10 per cent of the technical workforce in Townsville were apprentices.