Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price have officially launched Australian-based Quickstep Holding’s new flare housing manufacturing facility at its Bankstown site.
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Quickstep’s new flare housing project has established a state-of-the-art facility for the manufacturing of composite housings for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter aircraft’s countermeasure flares, which form an essential part of the aircraft’s defensive capability.
Mark Burgess, CEO and managing director of Quickstep, said, "This exciting new project has seen the further development of our world-class advanced manufacturing capabilities here at Bankstown Airport. We applied advanced tooling, robotics and process engineering skills to develop this facility, which will competitively position Quickstep to secure more F-35 work and other defence and aerospace projects in the future."
Quickstep said it is pleased to partner with Chemring Australia for the supply of countermeasure flare housings. This partnership represents an evolution of Quickstep’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program work – from the production of composite parts, including fuselage components and vertical tail parts, to the manufacturing of consumable flare housings.
This capability highlights Quickstep’s increasingly important contribution to Australia’s sovereign defence industrial base and the world’s largest military aerospace program.
Prime Minister Morrison welcomed the achievements of Quickstep and growth in capacity and recognition of Australia's defence industry, saying, "This really is an amazing success story for Australia, in seven years Quickstep has gone from a WA start-up, to a business that now employs 230 people.
"So to everybody at Quickstep, this really is a tremendous day for you. I know you're enormously proud and what you've been able to achieve, and talking to your staff and those who've been involved in this project are rightly feeling pretty pumped, I think, about what you've been able to do here."
Quickstep said it is proud to be a part of the Australian industrial base and will continue to work with the Australian government and its industry partners to ensure that Australia’s national security and future prosperity is safeguarded now and into the future.
Quickstep is an aerospace composites manufacturer grown, owned and operated in Australia. Quickstep is Australia’s largest independent aerospace-grade advanced composite manufacturer. It is a global provider of advanced composite solutions to the aerospace, defence, automotive and other advanced manufacturing sectors.
Quickstep partners with some of the world’s largest defence organisations, including Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and Boeing Defense, and is a major supplier to the global F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.