Wed, Aug 03, 2005
GKN Contract Tripled In Value Over Past Year
Australian industry has won more
high value work on the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program, Defence
Minister Robert Hill and Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane announced
Tuesday.
GKN provides engineering design services to JSF prime contractor
Lockheed Martin and its partner Northrop Grumman for each of the
three JSF variants. The value of GKN's work with Northrop Grumman
has tripled over the past 12 months.
"As predicted in March this year at the Avalon Air Show,
Australian industry involvement in the JSF Program continues to
grow," Senator Hill said. "In June 2003, GKN started with 30
engineers working on JSF. The company now employs some 150
engineers on the program, with the majority working in Melbourne
and Sydney". Senator Hill said a small number of the engineers are
based in Brisbane as well as Northrop Grumman's El Segundo plant in
California and Lockheed's facility in Fort Worth, TX and the
overall number is growing.
Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said it was pleasing to hear
that GKN had reported a 'reverse brain drain' whereby Australian
engineers have been returning to Australia in pursuit of work on
the JSF Program.
"This work illustrates the important role Australian industry is
playing as JSF activity ramps up and that Australian companies can
contribute to the highest levels of technology of the JSF
aircraft," Mr Macfarlane said.
In addition, Canberra-based Kellogg
Brown & Root and Catalyst Interactive, in collaboration with
Adacel Technologies from Melbourne, have been selected for software
development on the JSF project.
Northrop Grumman has selected a small group of multi-national
software specialists to develop JSF training courseware products
for JSF pilots and maintainers.
The inclusion of the Australian companies follows an 18-month
selection process involving some 120 international companies.
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