Queensland eyes billion-dollar defence ‘nerve centre’ deals

A battle plan is under development to make Queensland the “go to” centre for the defence force’s billion-dollar computer control and surveillance systems.

Queensland companies have already cornered a proportion of this market, but State Development Minister Dr Anthony Lynham wants to see Queensland companies successfully competing for a bigger share of the defence dollars.

“Queensland has a critical mass of high technology organisations supporting defence in the areas of battle management system (BMS) integration, cyber, and C4ISREW – the defence insider’s term for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and electronic warfare,” Dr Lynham told Parliament today.

As the Minister explained today, if the Australian Defence Force were a human body, C4ISREW would be the body’s nervous system, providing a high level of coordinated situational awareness and response capability.

“We have a concentrated corridor of defence industry capability from Brisbane Airport, west to RAAF Base Amberley, with prime contracters, small-to-medium enterprises and a supporting research capacity,” he said.

“This includes a critical mass of high-technology organisations supporting defence and security in this area, ranging from battlespace management to satellite systems and surveillance technologies, including facial recognition.

“We are currently exploring how to best leverage this capacity to ensure Queensland is acknowledged by the Australian Defence Force, Department of Defence, and defence prime contractors, as the premier location for many of the cutting edge technologies required in the modern military and for commercial solutions.”

One recent C4ISREW success story is Brisbane-based Boeing Defence, who recently recruited nearly 200 new staff locally, mainly engineers, to provide an enhanced, integrated battlespace communication system to deployed Australian land forces.

The solution will provide commanders with an increased level of situational awareness, command and control, and information sharing capability in theatre.  

Dr Lynham said snaring more C4ISREW work aligned with the government’s Advance Queensland strategy to create the knowledge-based jobs of the future.

“This market is only going to grow and its central to the 10-Year Defence Industries Roadmap we are developing now to ensure our companies continue to win contracts and generate jobs in Australian and international defence supply chains,” he said.

The roadmap is scheduled for release early next year.