Government ramps up international partnership opportunities for Australia industry

The Albanese Government is turbo charging export opportunities for Australian defence industry through a significant expansion of the Global Supply Chain (GSC) Program, underscoring support for local companies and jobs.

The number of major defence companies, known as primes, participating in the GSC Program will almost double from seven to 13. The expansion of the Program delivers on a commitment made in the landmark Defence Industry Development Strategy (DIDS), released in February this year.

The DIDS outlined the importance of the GSC Program and the need to expand the number of participants to assist with scale, competitiveness and sustainability.

The Program is aimed at supporting Australian businesses to integrate into global supply chains, diversify their revenue, drive economies of scale and build resilience through exports. Since its inception, the Program has delivered 2,450 contracts worth over $1.9 billion to 258 Australian suppliers.

The DIDS also outlined the defence industrial base we need in Australia, and how we will grow it, and articulated for the first time the strategic rationale for a sovereign defence industrial base and its paramount importance to Australia’s national security.

Defence industry is critical to delivering on this key objective, and exports are strategically important to grow the resilience of the Australian defence industrial base.

After conducting an extensive approach to market, the number of participating major defence companies, known as primes, has now increased from seven to 13.

The successful companies are:

• Babcock
• BAE Systems
• Boeing
• Huntington Ingalls Industries
• Kongsberg
• L3 Harris
• Lockheed Martin
• Moog
• Northrop Grumman
• Raytheon
• Rheinmetall
• SAAB; and
• Thales.

The GSC Program has also updated its performance framework to include:

• A plan to promote the scaling and growth of Australian businesses;
• An expanded scope of exports to consider the continuum between domestic and international projects;
• Identification of opportunities for Australian innovation early in the development cycle; and
• Performance metrics to allow Defence to measure the success of primes and the program.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon Pat Conroy MP:

“The Albanese Government is proud to be continuing and expanding the GSC Program as a way of supporting Australian businesses to grow and in turn create jobs for locals.​

“Expanding the program will provide Australian businesses with greater access to the broader export markets, and will increase opportunities to integrate into the international supply chains of the GSC Program partners.

“The Albanese Government understands just how important the growth and sustainability of Australian defence industry is to meet our strategic needs, and to also contribute to a future made in Australia.”