A flare deal on fighter

Andrew Mathieson
A CLOAK-and-dagger Lara production facility has created up to 100 new high-tech jobs behind closed doors.
But the site’s secretive location could make finding one of the latest jobs harder.
Chemring Australia announced 60 new jobs this week after a Geelong Investment and Innovation Fund poured $500,000 into the company’s plan to supply air-launched counter measures and flares for a “next generation” military aircraft, the Joint Strike Fighter.
A recent $20 million investment at the Lara facility has produced a new factory capable of producing weapons for the Australian Defence Force but also for the export market under the US multinational fighter aircraft program.
Chemring managing director Michael Flowers revealed that beefing up security was now a strong priority.
“We probably shouldn’t talk about that,” he told the Independent.
“We have various measures in place now.
“Not a lot of people know who we are or where we are.
“We’re out the back roads of Lara but because we’re mainly in the defensive game that’s not really such a bad thing.”
Mr Flowers said Lara’s labour force had doubled in the past four years to now rival the size of many Geelong companies forced to sack workers due to recent financial pressures.
The business should survive and prosper for the next 50 years, “ramping up” in size over the next decade, he said.
“Going forward, now we’ll have a much greater amount of manufacturing in Australia, which will be with significantly more people and a much greater percentage of work will be locally manufactured.”
Mr Flowers said new jobs would range from senior engineering, chemistry and other science fields to management, production, engineering, general mechanical and electrical trades and process workers.
Mr Flowers said staff had been testing the new missiles on the site, which was off limits to the public.
“If you’re making pyrotechnics, you don’t want people getting in there because they can actually harm themselves,” he said.
“They’re nothing like fireworks – they’re substantially different from that.
“They’re fairly expensive, so when you fire off a few of them, that’s my salary for the year.”