Eight leading Australian-owned Space and Defence companies have announced a collaboration to collectively deliver on all Defence’s Sovereign Industry Capability Priorities for space.
The Australian Defence Industry Space Capability Alliance (ADISCA) debuted at the 13th Australian Space Forum on 3 March 2022 in Adelaide, South Australia.
The ADISCA members are DEWC Systems, Gilmour Space Technologies, Inovor Technologies, Neumann Space, Nova Systems, Southern Launch, REDARC Defence Systems, and Space Machines Company.
The collective capabilities of the ADISCA membership include:
- Launch vehicle design and manufacture
- Space vehicle design and manufacture
- Payload design and manufacture
- In-space propulsion
- In-space transportation
- Launch services, and Mission control services
- Supporting Commercial, Civil and Defence sectors.
“ADISCA members are leading the development of cutting-edge space and defence technologies that can, and should, be utilised by the Commonwealth to advance Australia’s strategic interests in space," ADISCA spokesperson Ian Spencer, Chief Executive Officer at DEWC Systems, said.
“ADISCA is a genuine sovereign collaboration in response to the Commonwealth’s call for Australian industry to provide its expertise to further our nation’s interests in space.
“We look forward to Defence engaging with our highly skilled Australian consortium to prime upcoming Defence-related space projects.”
The Australian Government has committed billions to bolster Australia’s Defence capabilities over the next decade with a major focus on sovereign space technologies.
For example, Minister for Defence Senator Linda Reynolds announced $7 billion over the next decade in space capabilities as part of the 2020 Defence Strategic Update and 2020 Force Structure Plan in July 2020.
Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Mel Hupfeld announced Air Vice-Marshal Cath Roberts as the inaugural Head of Defence Space Division in May 2021.
By forming ADISCA, the members say they are answering the Commonwealth’s call for local industry to lead the development of sovereign space capabilities to serve and protect Australia’s national interests.
“Between the ADISCA companies, we employ many of the brightest people in technology and business in Australia," Spencer said.
“We are key contributors to the advancement of the Australian Civil Space Sector Strategy which aims to triple the size of the sector to $12 billion and create an additional 20,000 jobs over the next decade.
“ADISCA members look forward to playing our part in Australia’s Defence future in space.”