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The long-awaited Defence Industrial Capability Plan, heralded as the "long-term vision and roadmap for Australian defence industry" has been released by Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne.
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The Plan outlines Australia’s long-term vision and objectives for Australia’s defence industry, and how government and defence plan to partner with industry to achieve that vision.
In a speech to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), Minister Pyne today launched the plan, which argues in favour of a stronger, more resilient and internationally competitive defence industry.
"The plan addresses Australian defence and defence industry sovereignty and outlines the initial Sovereign Industrial Capability Priorities," Minister Pyne said.
"Importantly, the Plan makes clear that to be considered an Australian defence company, having an ABN and a shopfront is no longer enough – we want to see Australian leadership, an Australian board, and an Australian workforce value-adding right here at home."
The plan also includes an initial list of Sovereign Industrial Capability Priorities which Minister Pyne said are critical to achieving the Australian Defence Force’s operational mission and to the development of our future force over the next few years.
The initial Sovereign Industrial Capability Priorities are:
- Collins Class Submarine maintenance and technology upgrade
- Continuous Shipbuilding Program (including rolling submarine acquisition)
- Land Combat Vehicle and technology upgrade
- Enhanced Active and Passive Phased Array Radar Capability
- Combat clothing survivability and signature reduction technologies
- Advanced signal processing capability in Electronic Warfare, Cyber and Information Security, and Signature Management technologies and operations
- Surveillance and intelligence data collection, analysis, dissemination and complex systems integration
- Test, evaluation, certification and systems assurance
- Munitions and small arms research, design, development and manufacture
- Aerospace platform deep maintenance.
Minister Pyne said the initial Sovereign Industrial Capability Priorities, which will take the place of the previous Priority Industry Capabilities, took in the strategic, capability, and resource dimensions of industrial sovereignty, as well as judgements based on defence needs.
A new program with grant funding will also be launched to support the priorities and will be delivered by the Centre for Defence Industry Capability.
"The priorities will be strategically managed across defence planning and decision-making processes from strategic guidance to force design, the Capability Life Cycle, including the Australian Industry Capability Program, and industry and innovation programs," the minister said.
"A dedicated Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority grants program with funding of up to $17 million per year will commence in the second half of 2018."
Implementation Plans for the 10 priorities will be released by the government from mid-2019.
Implementation of the plan will also be supported by Australian industrial strategies for each of the six Integrated Investment Program capability streams and Implementation Plans for each Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority from mid-2019.
The Defence Industrial Capability Plan can be downloaded here.
