Boosting Australia's Rocket Motor Production Capabilities
The recent acquisition of a dozen new families of long-range missiles, coupled with Defence's Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) Enterprise, has underscored the need to bolster Australia's domestic rocket motor production capabilities.
Central to this mission is the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG), which has embarked on a multifaceted journey to support Defence in achieving this ambitious goal. DSTG's Advanced Rocket Motor Technology Demonstrator (ARMTD) Program, initiated in 2021, leverages DSTG's decades of advances science and technology expertise alongside industry.
Thales Australia, the industry lead for this program, provides the industrial scale propellant manufacturing and filling expertise, utilising the Government-owned, contractor operated explosive ordnance production and non-destructive testing facilities at Mulwala and Benalla. These state-of-the-art facilities are pivotal in the production and non-destructive testing of explosive ordnance.
Read more about the progress of the ARMTD program in the DST Outlook article, Helping to manufacture rocket motors on Australian soil.
The National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System fires an AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile during its first ever Australian live-fire at Woomera Test Range in South Australia on 14 November 2023. © PTE Nicholas Marquis from Defence database
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