INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING, PEOPLE: DEFENCE WEST BUILDS ON STATE’S STRENGTHS

Director-General, Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation, Government of Western Australia

Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Western Australian government has, through Defence West, delivered on its commitment to fasttrack maritime infrastructure projects, continued work on positioning the state as an emerging leader in defence technologies of the future, and expanded support for veterans transitioning to civilian life. WA is now on track to double the value of its defence industry to $6bn a year by 2030, thereby supporting thousands of jobs and providing a pipeline of work for West Australians well into the future.

As the nation’s only Indian Ocean-facing state, WA is uniquely positioned to support the ADF and our partners in addressing the growing challenges within the Indo-Pacific, and to develop essential infrastructure.

The WA government is delivering on its commitment to make sure the Australian Marine Complex (AMC) at Henderson continues to evolve as a world-class facility that will enable national and international expansion of the state’s defence, marine and resource industries. On this front, significant steps were taken over the last 12 months with the delivery of key planning documents, such as the 2020 Australian Marine Complex Strategic Infrastructure and Land Use Plan (SILUP) and the 2020 AMC Infrastructure Strategy.

Construction has almost been completed on the first of four fast-tracked infrastructure projects at the AMC, namely a new vessel transfer path, which will create better connectivity between the floating dock and shipbuilding and sustainment facilities, including ASC and Civmec. Work on the three other projects, which includes a new shipbuilding facility, a major wharf extension and upgrade, and road intersection upgrades, is also well underway. Together, the projects will create up to 600 local construction jobs. The WA government has invested more than $89m towards these critical infrastructure projects, including an additional $1.7m in the 2021-22 state budget.

In conjunction with the Department of Defence, the WA government is also delivering a program of studies that will inform the next stages of infrastructure development at the AMC, in the national interest. Although the decision has been made that Collinsclass submarine full-cycle docking will remain in South Australia, the future remains promising for the AMC. Earlier this year, Defence West with DevelopmentWA undertook early market engagement to better understand market interest in the development of a large vessel dry berth at the AMC, as outlined in Defence’s 2020 Force Structure Plan. The development of a large vessel dry berth remains under consideration by the WA government.

The Australian Marine Complex is undergoing a major upgrade of its facilities, which once completed, shall enable the precinct to more effectively meet the growing demands from industry and Defence. © WA DEFENCE REVIEW. Photographer: Serge DeSilva-Ranasinghe.

Over the last 12 months, Defence West continued

to deliver initiatives that grow the state’s defence industry capability and contribution. This includes capitalising on WA’s competitive advantages in mining and offshore oil and gas technologies, cyber security and the space sector, to position the state as an emerging leader in the defence technologies of the future.

At the end of last year, the WA government began a trial program that invested $200,000 in more than 20 local SMEs to improve their capability and help them win Defence contracts. The successful recipients came from a diverse range of industry sectors, including manufacturing, robotics, and security services. In the coming months, Defence

West will complete an evaluation of the program and its outcomes.

A highlight for Defence West from the last 12 months was taking the largest ever contingent of WA exhibitors to

Land Forces 2021 in Brisbane - the first premier defence trade show to be held in Australia since the COVID-19 pandemic. With COVID safety plans in place, 21 organisations plus a number of other high profile West Australian businesses showcased their equipment, technology and services.

As we start to emerge from the

COVID-19 pandemic, Defence West will continue to identify new opportunities to promote WA SMEs on the national and international stage - especially those with products and services related to the defence technologies of the future.

“Although the decision has been made that Collins-class submarine full-cycle docking will remain in South Australia, the future remains promising for the AMC. Earlier this year, Defence West with DevelopmentWA undertook early market engagement to better understand market interest in the development of a large vessel dry berth at the AMC, as outlined in Defence’s 2020 Force Structure Plan. The development of a large vessel dry berth remains under consideration by the WA government.

The WA government recognises the value of veterans to our community and our economy. These men and women are carefully selected, expertly trained and tested by a range of experiences at home and overseas. They are equipped with character traits and skills that are valuable to industries outside the ADF.

We want Western Australia to be the best place in the country for former ADF personnel to transition back to civilian life. In the last 12 months, the WA government has invested in a number of programs to support this aim: • $1.3m to fund a range of communitybased initiatives with the emphasis on supporting veterans to transition from military to civilian lives. • $500,000 was recently disbursed to small ex-service organisations for minor infrastructure upgrades. • $430,000 has been allocated to procure support dogs for veterans and first responders to mitigate the effects of PTSD. • $400,000 over three years to the Defence Industry Veteran

Employment Scheme to upskill veterans for work within the defence industry.

These are just some of the many highlights over the last 12 months. WA’s defence industry has an exciting future ahead of it, and Defence West looks forward to continuing its support of the WA businesses contributing to many significant projects in the national interest.

Civmec has achieved a significant milestone in the construction of its purpose-built assembly and maintenance hall in Henderson, WA. The new building contains 20 overhead travelling cranes, with the central hall having an impressive 400t lifting capacity. The 60m oceanfacing sliding doors are amongst the largest in the world, able to accommodate the transfer of vessels and large modularised structures. The facility has over 1.2m cubic metres of internal space, which is equivalent to an area that could house 12,000 passenger buses. © Civmec.

By Kirsten Rose,

Chair, Defence Science Centre Advisory Board

In response to the accelerated pace of Defence-related advancement and investment in the Indo-Pacific region, the Department of Defence has expressed the need for increased collaboration between university researchers, industry and stakeholders. Late 2020 saw the release of two strategic-level documents which enforced the role the Defence Science Centre (DSC) plays in supporting the national Defence enterprise. The Lead the Way: Defence

Technology Strategy 2030 recognised the Australian Defence Science and Universities Network contribution of the broader Defence capability life cycle.

The transformation strategy makes the imperative clear, observing that, “Transformation will require us to strengthen our partnerships – with other government departments, states and territories, with defence industry, with academia, and with the broader national science and technology community.”

Poised at the gateway to the Indian Ocean and broader Indo-Pacific region the DSC stands as a key part of this transformation. To reference a similar organisation with our US allies, the DSC doesn’t make things; it makes things happen. As a broad mechanism, the purpose of DSC is to attract defence-related research, development, and investment opportunities by leveraging uniquely West Australian solutions to solve complex problems posed by Defence.

Over the past year, we have continued our successful grant programs whilst also expanding our collaboration vehicles to facilitate greater opportunities for WA-based academia and industry. These initiatives are nested within the guidance of More together: Defence Science and Technology Strategy 2030 to “take innovative ideas out of the laboratory and deliver real impact into the hands of the warfighter.” RESEARCH SUPPORT PROGRAMS

Key industries within the WA economy have long depended on our universities to devise new and innovative approaches to operate effectively in regional and remote environments. As a result, WA has become a leader in key defence-relevant sectors such as robotics, autonomous operation, AI, computing and analytics. The DSC has worked to harness the potential within ‘Team WA’ universities by encouraging a collective approach to addressing critical Defence requirements. The third round of Collaborative Research Grants (CRG) was announced mid-2021, with seven projects sharing in $870,000 in research funding. The projects covered a wide range of initiatives, including weaponmounted sensors, uncrewed aerial vehicles, space-based optical communications systems, and The Curtin Corrosion Centre was a recent recipient of the Defence Science Centre’s Collaborative Research Grant. © Curtin University. defence against biological warfare. Launched in 2019, the CRG

initiative provides seed funding, ranging from $50,000 to $150,000, and is available for collaborations between universities, industry and government that include at least one DSC-member university. In the short period since our establishment, the DSC has facilitated three funding rounds which have resulted in almost $2.5m in funding and 18 research projects with direct Defence relevance.

These grants are important to de-risk concepts for Defence and to demonstrate capacity and operational impact. We congratulate Edith Cowan University which this year received an additional $200,000 from the Australian Army’s Training Transformation initiative to expand their research, and Curtin University which received $396,000 in follow-on funding from an ARC Linkage Grant to continue research on automatic searching and tracking of anomalous ground signals from a satellite constellation. Both of these projects were originally supported through our CRG program.

Presently, DSC is in the midst of our latest round of the Research Higher Degree Student Grant (RHDSG). This is a growing initiative by the DSC, with the number of grants expanding from four in 2019 to 10 in 2020. This is an important initiative to not only contribute our brightest minds to national security, but also align the WA government’s priority to enhance the state’s STEM workforce capability.

Defence Science Centre Director Michele Clement at the Orbital UAV stand at Land Forces 2021. © JTSI.

Since October last year, the DSC has established the Defence and Research Teaming – or DaRT. This initiative is a day-long workshop designed to explore concept ideation and clarify Defence’s emerging needs and challenges.

Even with WA’s relatively small ADF footprint, these events have been well supported across all stakeholders, with events addressing topics of undersea diver communications, maritime individual and team propulsion, and agile command and control. An important factor with this collaboration vehicle is that all topics have direct relevance to a Defence acquisition stream or research priority. This ensures our contribution and outputs are aligned to the strategic guidance of the ‘more together’ strategy, and make an impact.

The DSC has also assisted a number of requests from Defence to understand the defence-industry capacity residing in WA. Notably this has included the ‘Artificial Intelligence for Decision Making’ - an initiative between the Office of National Intelligence and Defence Science Technology Group (DSTG) - which sort applications against one of ten AI-related challenges. Administered through the DSC, this saw a strong cohort of entrants from WA. Of the six successful applicants, four have received follow-on funding totalling $200,000. This initiative is another case study in how the DSC is supporting the national Defence enterprise in achieving ‘more, together’. SUPPORTING TOMORROW’S COMBATANT

While supporting its current programs, the DSC will continue to work with the DSTG and the Australian Defence Science and University Network to support and promote initiatives identified in the More together: Defence Science and Technology Strategy 2030.

The team at the DSC is proud to be supporting the growth of the WA defence science ecosystem through a wholeof-state approach to deliver diversified research development across technology areas and contribute to the national Defence enterprise. We look forward to seeing our supported research projects develop and mature,and supporting future opportunities to ensure WA innovations of today get into the hands of tomorrow’s warfighter.