South Australian defence company Silentium Defence is accelerating its expansion into North America, establishing a new United States headquarters in Apex, North Carolina.

The move marks a significant milestone in the Adelaide-based company’s global growth strategy, strengthening its ability to support U.S. customers while creating new export opportunities for Australian-developed defence technology.

New leadership appointments have also been announced, with Matthew Ratnesar joining Silentium as Chief Executive Officer, North America to lead the U.S. expansion and Sam Macmillan as Chief Financial Officer. The appointments will help the company expand across allied defence markets, building on strong market momentum that includes the 2023 launch of its U.S. entity, its first U.S. contract, and successful demonstrations of its MAVERICK passive radar systems with defence end users.

Founded in South Australia in 2017, Silentium Defence has built an international reputation for passive radar technology that enables operators to detect and track threats without emitting signals, providing covert surveillance capability across land, sea, air and space.

Silentium Global Chief Executive Officer Dr James Palmer said the expansion would support Silentium to respond to growing demand across counter, integrated air and missile defence, and space domain awareness applications.

“Silentium has spent years building and proving passive radar capabilities that are now operationally deployed across defence environments. We are now advancing our U.S. operations to strengthen support for existing programs and broaden access to these proven capabilities across the U.S. defense ecosystem,” Dr Palmer said.

Chief Executive Officer North America Matthew Ratnesar, a former U.S. Army Special Forces officer with extensive defence technology experience, will lead the company’s U.S. business, strengthening governance, security and operational readiness

“Silentium is capable and has a strong delivery record with a clear path to scale here in the U.S. My focus is to build the operational foundation and institutional relationships required to meet that demand,” Mr Ratnesar said.

Silentium’s MAVERICK passive radar systems have supported Australian Defence Force capability development activities including counter-drone and integrated air and missile defence applications.

With growing international demand for advanced sensing capability, Silentium Defence’s continued expansion highlights the strength of South Australia’s defence industry and its ability to transform sovereign innovation into globally deployed capability.