Team Defence Australia on display in the US

Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon Christopher Pyne MP, visited the Team Defence Australia pavilion at the United States Sea-Air-Space exposition today.

Minister Pyne said many of the companies’ exhibitions had existing contracts with the US Department of Defense and with the prime companies as a supplier on major platforms, or in the case of Calytrix, on a range of simulation projects.

“Increasing the export potential of Australian companies and accessing new market opportunities are a key policy driver for the Government,” Minister Pyne said.

“Exporting leads to higher productivity, innovation and competitiveness, and directly contributes to the growth of jobs in Australia.

“We have been too heavily reliant on defence imports and while Australian industry has experienced export success, we want to reverse our reliance on imports and build a sustainable sovereign industry base.”

Minister Pyne said he would release an export strategy later this year, which would be fundamental to achieving the Government’s aims for a strong local defence industry.

“It is important we have a coordinated approach to the planning, guiding and measuring of defence export outcomes and that these outcomes are linked to the future prosperity of Australia and to achieving defence capability outcomes,” he said.

The Sea-Air-Space exposition runs from 3–5 April in National Harbor, Maryland and is followed by the G’Day USA US-Australian Dialogue on Defence Industries on 6 April.

In its fourth year, the Dialogue on Defence Industries brings together over 200 industry and government representatives from Australia and the United States to discuss bilateral matters and the collective future of defence industry.