Login
iscover
The federal government has announced the development of a new training facility for maritime security operations.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
The Morrison government has revealed it will fund the construction of a Maritime Security Training Centre in Darwin to facilitate maritime security exercises between Royal Australian Navy and other Australian Defence Force personnel.
According to Minister for Defence Linda Reynolds, the new training facility will “cater for an expected increase in training requirements”, with the new Arafura Class offshore patrol vVessels (OPV) to conduct border protection and maritime patrol missions alongside other Australian vessels and regional partners.
“The Maritime Security Training Centre will support northern Australian based ADF members in the maintenance of competencies required to undertake operational boarding tasks,” Minister Reynolds said.
The Department of Defence is expected to approach industry stakeholders for design development support later this year, with a construction time frame of 2021-2022.
Minister Reynolds and senator for the Northern Territory Dr Sam McMahon said this is the latest of several government-backed projects that would support the defence industry amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
“The Morrison government remains committed to delivering capability for the ADF and backing defence industry as the economy recovers from COVID-19,” Senator McMahon said.
“This is another example of the way we are working to keep the wheels of defence industry here in the Northern Territory turning through these challenging times.”
This follows the government’s announcement of a multimillion-dollar investment into Northern Territory-based defence SME capability last week.
The Commonwealth government has committed to $490 million worth of investment into critical defence infrastructure across the Northern Territory as the nation embarks on the largest defence build-up and modernisation since the Second World War.
[Related: Government commits funding to boost Top End defence industry]
