300 jobs in JSF coup

JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
A new aviation manufacturing facility is set to create 300 jobs in Geelong.
Marand Precision Engineering general manager Rohan Stocker told the Independent the facility would service a defence contract worth up to $800 million.
The company was investigating several sites including Avalon, Mr Stocker said.
Marand secured a major international contract with two of the world’s leading aerospace and defence firms building a global Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).
In a landmark agreement with aerospace giants BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin, Marand won the contract to manufacture vertical tail assemblies for the JSF program.
Marand will also build high-precision ground equipment for removal and installation during strike fighter maintenance.
Mr Stocker said first deliveries were scheduled for the end of 2013.
Marand would spend $50 million on the new 10,000-square-metre Geelong facility, he said.
The JSF program is the world’s largest defence project, building the F35 Lightning II fighter.
Mr Stocker said the facility would also help the company bid for similar contracts, adding to Geelong’s aerospace capability.
Marand was “working with” City of Greater Geelong and Avalon Airport, he said.
Marand had “strong links” with the Geelong operations of Ford, Deakin University and Victorian Centre for Advanced Materials Manufacturing.
“The strength of those links is one of the reasons we chose Geelong. We need a region where we can source a skilled and semi-skilled workforce,” Mr Stocker said.
The contract was the culmination of almost nine years’ hard work, he said.
Victorian Manufacturing, Exports and Trade Minister Richard Dalla-Riva said the new facility would provide a major economic and jobs boost for Geelong.
The Marand contract was Australia’s largest JSF manufacturing contract to date, he said.
Mr Dalla-Riva revealed Chemring Australia was also positioned to bid for JSF contracts with the opening of a new $30 million state-of-the-art countermeasures manufacturing facility at Lara.
The announcements represented a “significant step toward establishing a world-class aviation and aerospace precinct in the Geelong area”, he said.
Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare last week officially opened the new plant to make “specialist pyrotechnics and counter-measures” for defence personnel in Afghanistan.
Chemring built the plant after winning a $160 million Federal Government contract.
“The counter-measures are a defensive flare system that assists in protecting aircraft against enemy missiles,” Mr Clare said.
Continued page 3