Thales Australia has signed a contract with the Department of Defence to provide ongoing dock operations and services, as well as ship repair and maintenance services, at Garden Island for the next five years.

HMAS Darwin has completed a highly successful maritime security deployment to the Middle East and is now heading home to Sydney.

Beechcraft Defense has announced that the first two Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) Beechcraft T-6C aircraft have been completed ahead of schedule and will depart for New Zealand from its headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, later this month.

Defence Minister David Johnston has hailed the forging of closer defence relations between Australia and China following his meeting with General Fan Changlong.

The Navy's three remaining Landing Craft Heavy auxiliary vessels have begun their decommissioning voyages, sailing from Cairns, the port they have called home for the past 30 years.

Julie Barbaro has joined the staff Martin Hamilton-Smith MP, the Minister for Investment and Trade and Minister for Defence Industries in South Australia as a Ministerial adviser. Click here for other business movements.

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BAE Systems Taranis UCAV has flown for the first time in a full stealth configuration, making it almost invisible to radar.

This week at the Farnborough Airshow, BAE Systems showed off its latest Helmet-Mounted Display, the Striker II flight helmet.

General Atomics has announced the second successful endurance flight of its Predator B ER Remote Piloted Aircraft, which flew from June 17-18 as part of a program to improve the Predator's endurance and capabilities.

In a recent demonstration carried out during RIMPAC 2014, the US Marines displayed and tested a fully-functional, half-scale prototype of its new amphibious transport vehicle.

As part of DARPA's ASW Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel program, Leidos is building the first robotic autonomous vessel designed to locate and track the extremely quiet diesel submarines.

The Senate Appropriations Committee's version of the fiscal year 2015 defence spending bill would add $194 million more than the Navy requested for the Joint High Speed Vessel program so the service can buy additional ships.

The full version of Defence Week Premium no.309 of 17 July 2014 can be downloaded here as a PDF. A separate PDF of the latest Defence tenders can also be downloaded here

After the last attempt to acquire the weapon, when negotiations between the DMO and the preferred contractor, Point Trading, for the supply of LWAGL fell in a heap, the CoA decided that the tender did not conform to the Commonwealth's requirements.

With HMAS ANZAC undocked from the BAE Systems Henderson Shipyard, the warship is now commencing its final outfitting and test and trials program before commencing sea trials later this year.