South Australia’s world-class defence industry capabilities will be on show at this year’s international maritime exposition, Indo Pacific 2023, which docks in Sydney from 7-9 November.

A record-breaking delegation of South Australian defence industry will turn out for this year’s expo, with more than 80 companies participating on the South Australia – The Defence State stand.

Defence SA Chief Executive Richard Price said this is the largest delegation the agency had hosted at any trade show in its history.

“The demand to join this year’s Defence State delegation surpassed our expectations and reflects the commitment, capability and momentum building across the state’s defence sector,” Mr Price said.

“Events like Indo Pac provide industry with the opportunity to share information and showcase their world-class capabilities and technologies to major partners and key decision makers across the international maritime and naval defence community.”

“We are proud to be leading the state’s largest defence delegation to this year’s Indo Pacific 2023 International Maritime Exposition, opening doors for industry to make important business connections and grow partnership and supply chain opportunities.”

South Australia is spearheading the most transformative industrial endeavour in the nation’s history – the SSN-AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine program. The state is also set to deliver a program of maritime work that includes construction of the Arafura class offshore patrol vessels and Hunter class frigates, Collins class full-cycle docking and life-of-type extensions and the Hobart class destroyer combat system upgrade.

This pipeline of work ensures a continuous naval shipbuilding enterprise that creates jobs, security and economic spin-offs for South Australia for decades to come.

Delivering a precise manufacturing capability

As the nation’s naval shipbuilding capital, South Australia is home to a thriving network of defence primes and SMEs. Axiom Precision Manufacturing is among the contingent of local industry geared up to demonstrate their cutting-edge capability on The Defence State stand.

Specialising in electronic hardware design, precision machining and complex mechanical, electro-mechanical and sub-system manufacturing, Axiom has been contributing to defence and space programs since 2007. The company’s current list of projects include supporting Lockheed Martin for the Orion spacecraft program as part of NASA’s missions to the Moon; supplying parts to Boeing for the Apache AH-64E helicopters program and producing the main engine bearings for ASC to support the Collins submarine sustainment.

Axiom General Manager Craig Maynard said attending Indo Pacific provided important access to a broad range of defence customers.

“South Australia has a very strong defence industry capability, working in many domestic and global programs and the opportunities coming in the future will help the South Australian defence industry strengthen and flourish,” Mr Maynard said.

“Axiom looks forward to gaining exposure to global defence customers by attending Indo Pacific 2023 as part of the Defence State delegation.”

SA defence innovation at the cutting-edge

 

Building on the state’s proud history of delivering many of the nation’s largest and most complex Defence projects, the state’s leading research and education providers will also demonstrate their cutting-edge defence innovations and the work being done to grow the nation’s highly skilled naval shipbuilding workforce at Indo Pacific 2023.

The University of South Australia will be among the providers exhibiting in the education zone on The Defence State stand. The team will be showcasing its expertise in human-centred design for submarines, displaying their Royal Australian Navy personnel human replicas and demonstrating how this ground-breaking research can improve conditions for submariners and enhance human performance at sea. This technology places Australia at the forefront of human-centred design in naval architecture.

UniSA Director Defence and Space Matt Opie said it was an exciting time to be part of South Australia’s defence industry.

“South Australia is at the forefront of the nation’s defence industry, driving innovation, research and development, workforce growth and overall defence capability,” Mr Opie said.

“The University of South Australia is home to world-leading researchers, technology and facilities in human performance, advanced manufacturing, cyber security and AI-informed data architecture, all of which helps solve critical problems in defence.”

The state’s university and VET sector will also be promoting their offerings and the key role they are playing in our mission to build our naval shipbuilding workforce and capabilities.

Indo Pacific 2023 provides South Australia’s defence community with a platform to showcase their first-rate know-how, capabilities and technologies on the global stage.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Defence and Space Industries Susan Close is attending the event, with South Australia’s critical role in upcoming naval shipbuilding programs to underpin discussions with local industry, Defence primes and key government representatives.

Visit the South Australia – The Defence State stand in Hall 3, Stand 3K6 at Indo Pacific 2023.

View a full list of exhibitors on the South Australia – The Defence state stand.