South Australian company REDARC Defence & Space has been awarded a $23 million contract for the supply of lighting and related parts for the Royal Australian Navy’s anti-submarine warfare frigates.

The Lonsdale-based company will be responsible for the manufacture and delivery of 12,600 LED lights for the first three Hunter class warships being built at the world-class Osborne Naval Shipyard.

The contract is the result of a five-year collaboration between REDARC and UK LED lighting business MARL International. The companies will partner to produce 79 different types of lights for each frigate, including bunk and flood lights, weatherdeck and step lights, general and emergency lights.

Announcing the news, BAE Systems Australia Maritime Managing Director Craig Lockhart said the contract built on the company’s commitment to building Australian industry capability (AIC).

“I welcome the partnership between REDARC Defence & Space and MARL International, which will lead to Australians manufacturing thousands of lights and related parts for the first batch of three Hunter class frigates,” he said.

“We will continue to collaborate closely with the Commonwealth and support the growth of AIC and to that end, we expect that in future ship batches the percentage of Australian content will increase.”

REDARC Managing Director and owner, Anthony Kittel said the partnership with MARL would see the transfer of the technology to Australia.

“Being able to deliver exceptionally high quality maritime LED lights – manufactured, sustained and supported in Australia – is a great step for us,” he said.

“This contract will allow REDARC Defence & Space to further grow our defence workforce and upskill our current staff as well as our Australian supply chain.”

REDARC and MARL partnership will provide a superb lighting solution for the Hunter class frigates, delivering state-of-the-art operational performance, reduced through-life costs and environmental benefits. BAE Systems Australia and the Commonwealth are working together to strengthen Australian industrial capability, and more than 50 Australian businesses have already been contracted to contribute to the supply chain for Hunter’s prototyping phase.

As the program progresses, more local small to medium sized companies will be contracted to contribute to the supply chain for equipment and parts manufacture, provision and assembly for the first batch of frigates.

Read the BAE Systems Australia news story.

Read the media release.

Image (L-R): BAE Systems Australia Maritime Head of Supply Chain, Michele Galeano and Managing Director REDARC Defence & Space, Anthony Kittel are pictured inside the first of five prototype ship blocks manufactured at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in SA.