Jeremy Rockliff,Minister for Advanced Manufacturing and Defence Industries
Tasmania's delegation to the Land Forces 2021 defence expo is celebrating new partnerships with major defence contractors with both Elphinstone and Fortifyedge teaming up with major players in the defence industry.
Land Forces is the biggest international industry expo showcasing land-based military equipment, technology and services in the Asia-Pacific region with the Tasmanian delegation this year reaching a record 16 companies.
This year's Land Forces has seen Tasmanian manufacturer Elphinstone sign up to a teaming agreement with Hanwha Defense Australia for the manufacture of vehicle hulls for the Redback infantry fighting vehicle.
The Hanwha proposal is currently under consideration by the Australian Government as part of the tender process for the $27 billion LAND 400 Phase 3 project to supply up to 450 infantry fighting vehicles for the Australian Defence Force.
If the Hanwha bid is successful it would be a significant undertaking for Elphinstone and would require investment in new specialist plant and equipment. The work is also expected to create substantial long-term employment opportunities in the north-west Tasmanian region where Elphinstone is based.
Land Forces also provided the opportunity for Tasmanian software firm Fortifyedge to unveil its futuristic 'advanced machine learning edge' technology, and a new partnership with Thales and Microsoft to generate the Nexium Defence Cloud Edge (NDC Edge) – a sovereign cloud-based computing system – that was demonstrated at Land Forces.
This significant partnership will build on Fortifyedge's growing reputation for world-leading software and technology and increase awareness of Tasmania's hi-tech capabilities and innovative solutions in land, sea, air, cyber and space domains.
Through the Tasmanian Defence Industry Strategy, we are working with companies like Elphinstone and Fortifyedge to assist them to identify and capture opportunities in the multi-trillion dollar global defence supply market.
This year the Tasmanian Government supported 31 representatives from 16 local companies to attend Land Forces where they get to take their products, innovations and reputation for quality to defence force leaders from around the world as well as major defence contractors and buyers.
