Nova and EOS have announced that they have created an Australian controlled joint venture to bid for the Commonwealth’s sovereign guided weapons enterprise – the Sovereign Missile Alliance.
The companies say the Sovereign Missile Alliance (SMA) offers the Commonwealth an "Australian owned, operated and controlled sovereign strategic industry partner that will establish and deliver a Sovereign Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance Enterprise (GWEOE) capability in the short, medium and long-term."
"With a collective workforce of more than 1,000 local employees and a domestic supply chain of more than 600 Australian businesses, the SMA has the resources, funding and breadth of capabilities, products and technologies to uniquely provide the critical mass required to initiate the GWEOE," the companies said.
The scope of the SMA aims to include:
• Sovereign management and control;
• An extensive supply chain network qualified to defence aerospace standards;
• Design and development of military aerospace products;
• Test and evaluation, certification and systems assurance;
• Systems integration;
• Rocket motors and propulsion; and
• Advanced technology from the 'largest R&D and tertiary collaboration programs in
Australian defence industry.'
A critical objective of the enterprise will be to remain "missile vendor neutral overall."
The SMA says it will not require the approvals or permissions of foreign partners to deliver Australia’s current and emerging missile requirements.
“The sovereign capability to deliver guided weapons already exists in-country and the SMA creates an Australian owned entity of scale with the required capabilities, resources, funding and established relationships across the broader Defence ecosystem to start this journey with the Commonwealth now,” said Jim McDowell, Group CEO, Nova Systems.
“The SMA will establish a sustainable, domestic capacity through a Common User Facility to manufacture customer-selected foreign missiles under license, using our indigenous supply chain."
"We have the core competencies, advanced R&D capabilities, existing IP, and established technology partnerships to create the next generation of guided weapons optimised for Australian requirements with full sovereign ownership and control. The Common User Facility will progressively move to produce these missiles,” said Dr Ben Greene, Group CEO, EOS.
More to come.