Thales launches Australian Munitions

Thales Australia have launched Australian Munitions – a business dedicated to providing a wide range of munitions that deliver a battlefield advantage to Australia’s warfighters.

This will enable better access to capabilities, increased flexibility, and greater cost-effectiveness in meeting the customer’s munitions requirements.

Australian Munitions is part of Thales’s global network of explosive ordnance expertise, which includes Thales Advanced Weapon Systems, Thales Missile Electronics, Junghans Microtec, TDA Armements and Forges de Zeebrugge (FZ).

Bringing together global and local supply chains, Australian Munitions will lower the cost of Australia’s explosive ordnance capability, while continuing to deliver safety performance in Australia’s strategically critical ordnance sites.

Thales Australia CEO Chris Jenkins said: “With this business we are building the future of explosive ordnance manufacturing in this country.

“As a team we are dedicated to ensuring the Australian Defence Force has the best munitions the world has to offer, especially when it comes to US and NATO interoperability,” he said.

“Our partners give us significant global reach when it comes to accessing the widest range of technologies, and the market scale to ensure value for money for taxpayers

“Thales Australia has a long history of explosive ordnance expertise, and our knowledge of the complexities of operating the Benalla and Mulwala facilities is demonstrated by our strong safety record in these challenging environments – safety is central to everything we do, and we have an ongoing program of continuous improvement in this area,” Jenkins concluded.

Australian Munitions will encompass the manufacturing sites at Benalla in Victoria and Mulwala in New South Wales, and will be headed by Thales Australia Armaments Vice President Kevin Wall.