Sovereign Industrial Capability Priorities are capabilities critical to Defence and must be developed or supported by Australian industry. This means Australia must have access to, or control over the skills, technology, intellectual property, financial resources and infrastructure that underpin the Priorities.
The initial ten Sovereign Industrial Capability Priorities are (in no particular order):
- Collins Class submarine maintenance and technology upgrade
- Continuous shipbuilding program (including rolling submarine acquisition)
- Land combat vehicle and technology upgrade
- Enhanced active and passive phased array radar capability
- Combat clothing survivability and signature reduction technologies
- Advanced signal processing capability in electronic warfare, cyber and information security, and signature management technologies and operations
- Surveillance and intelligence data collection, analysis dissemination and complex systems integration
- Test, evaluation, certification and systems assurance
- Munitions and small arms research, design, development and manufacture
- Aerospace platform deep maintenance.
The focus is on enhancing the resilience of the Australian industrial base underpinning these Priorities and informing wider Defence and Government decision-making about defence capability. As part of Defence’s strategic planning, the Sovereign Industrial Capability Priorities will be reviewed annually to assess their status and whether focus on the delivery of these capabilities is required.
Australian defence industry is defined as businesses with an Australian Business Number and Australian-based industrial capabilities (such as Australian company and board presence, skills base, value-add work in Australia, infrastructure) that are providing or have the capacity to provide defence specific or dual-use goods or services in a supply chain that leads to the Australian Department of Defence or an international defence force.
A dedicated annual grant program of up to $17 million to help eligible SMEs contributing to a Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority will be delivered by the Centre for Defence Industry Capability and commence in the second half of 2018.