The changing global situation is opening up many opportunities for Australian companies wanting work in the defence sector. Local advanced manufacturers are ideally placed to deliver the highly customised and flexible solutions that tomorrow’s Australian Defence Force will need.
Author: Kathie McGregor – Manufacturing Research Director, CSIRO
Geopolitical uncertainty is at its highest since the end of the Second World War. In Australia, this tension has increased the priority of national security and prompted a significant boost to the defence budget. There is also a growing resolve to foster national self-sufficiency and build local supply chains. Sovereign capability and local content are now an important part of the value proposition in defence procurement.
To this end, the Federal Government maintains a list of fourteen Sovereign Industrial Capability Priorities that are critical to our defence forces and need to be supported by Australian industry. The list includes many things that advanced manufacturers could support, including aerospace maintenance and structural integrity; robotics, autonomous systems, and artificial intelligence; space and Collins class submarine maintenance and technology upgrades; combat clothing survivability and signature reduction technologies; and land combat and protected vehicles and technology upgrades.
As the nation’s largest publicly funded research agency, one of CSIRO’s core responsibilities is to align our scientific work with national priorities. To do this, we work closely with defence to devise leading edge, commercially viable and scalable solutions that will augment Australian defence force capability and contribute to the security of our nation and our region.
CSIRO delivers defence projects in key areas of opportunity across the advanced manufacturing sector. One field that is of increasing interest to defence is additive manufacturing or 3D printing. This technology allows highly customised products to be rapidly developed and printed ‘on demand’, potentially slashing costs, supply chain risks and downtime significantly.
At CSIRO, we’re investing in developing and improving metallic additive manufacturing to make Australian businesses more competitive globally. As part of this, we operate one of Australia’s leading additive manufacturing research centres, Lab 22. An important part of Lab 22’s mission is to work with local manufacturers on new materials for manufacture at scale. Our partners can also access our state-of-the-art machinery and get help from our additive manufacturing experts to optimise build parameters, predict performance characteristics, and successfully commercialise the final product.
For example, CSIRO experts helped local manufacturer, Albins Performance Transmissions to rapidly translate their concept into a working model.
Albins had been asked by military solutions provider, Thales, to make a prototype steering pump bracket for its next-generation light protected vehicle, the Hawkei.
As Albins only had a week to turn the job around, time was of the essence. Our team worked from a digital file of the bracket to manufacture a mould using our Voxeljet VX1000 3D sand printer in just 48 hours. We then used the mould to cast the bracket – all within deadline.
Another similar technology with great potential for defence applications is cold spray which uses a stream of gas to blast metal particles onto a surface, creating a dense, thick coating.
CSIRO has extensive experience with this technology, which can solve the problem of maintaining critical equipment by repairing, rather than replacing, damaged parts.
Another area rich with opportunity is the development of novel or composite materials which have special structural, electrical, or thermal properties.
CSIRO is a leader in advanced materials development. Our capabilities include extractive metallurgy; metal powder production; metal organic frameworks, composite and hybrid materials; and advanced high-performance polymers. We also work with partners to develop new materials and new processes for scale to manufacture.
Recently, we assisted CBG Systems to develop a multifunctional composite material to improve its passive fire protection systems which helps maintain the structural integrity of ships and enables emergency evacuation in an on- board fire.
The collaboration resulted in a new fire-resistant cladding, RAC Plus, which can withstand temperatures of over 1000°C. The material is stronger than conventional fire protection coatings, but 50 per cent lighter than traditional metal cladding.
Testing indicates the improved panels can be used on steel ships and aluminium high-speed craft. There are also potential applications in aerospace for battery enclosures, and the civil construction industry.
We are also working with Boron Molecular, EPE, a veteran-owned specialist equipment provider, and Monash University to develop a ground- breaking respirator canister to protect military personnel from weaponised toxic industrial chemicals and vapours.
In this project we are combining our expertise in nanofibers and porous solids and developing a technology that uses an advanced crystal technology, called metal- organic frameworks (MOFs) which have the largest internal surface area of any known substance. While MOFs have an incredibly broad range of applications, in this project they are used to absorb toxic industrial chemicals before they affect the wearer.
The resulting single canister device is a step change from existing technology, as it will protect the wearer for longer periods against a greater number of threats. As well as providing protection from chemical, biological and radiological agents, it will significantly reduce exposure to a broad spectrum of toxic industrial chemicals, also critical to the nation’s first responders.
CSIRO has expertise in many other areas of advanced manufacturing including robotics and automation, which can improve the efficiency and accuracy of manufacturing processes, as well as data analytics, which can be used to optimise production and supply chains. Energy storage will also get a lot of attention as the defence sector increasingly employs smart assets that need to be powered.
In all of these areas, Australian advanced manufacturing companies have the potential to have a profound impact on Australia’s defence capability in the years to come. In turn, the adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies in the defence sector will force innovation and drive growth in the broader economy.
This will be a very exciting time which should see new industries and supply chains form. It will also create skilled jobs and accelerate the move to a sustainable, technology-driven, globally competitive advanced manufacturing sector.
As Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO will continue to support this growth through leading edge research and working with academic and industry partners to develop solutions that benefit the nation.
We devise and translate innovative science that has significant positive impact on the lives of Australians and people around the world.