Thales Australia opens advanced manufacturing facility in Lithgow

Thales Australia recently opened its new advanced manufacturing facility in Lithgow, in regional NSW, with the assistance of Minister for Defence Industry the Hon Pat Conroy.

The company says the opening of the new facility is a key milestone in the first phase of its industrial plan to transform its Lithgow Arms site into an advanced manufacturing Industry 4.0 and integration hub for the precision manufacture of next-generation Australian-designed weapon systems — integrating both traditional precision manufacturing and digital technologies, including 3D printing, and the installation of automated electroplating and other metal treatment capabilities.

The new facility will house a purpose-built live firing test and evaluation capability to support systems qualification and integration, and the acceleration of research and technology development of digitised small-arms and weapon system platforms. The purpose-built facility will also support collaboration across research institutions, SME partners and key industrial partners to create the soldier systems and small arms of the future, as well as train the next generation of skilled advanced manufacturing workers in the central west of NSW.

Lithgow Arms currently exports its small arms to 17 countries and has been a key industrial partner to the Australian Defence Force providing small arms and weapons systems, as well as providing end-to-end logistics and sustainment to its soldiers for more than a century.

“Thales Australia is a proud and committed steward of sovereign industrial capability in this country, and has taken this role seriously since our acquisition of ADI more than two decades ago,” said Julie Bown, Vice President of Land, Thales Australia and New Zealand. “Lithgow Arms is the home of the only small arms manufacturing capability in Australia and we are proud to be a major employer in regional NSW. Our workforce is highly skilled and multi-generational.

“Lithgow Arms has a proud and distinguished 110-year history of sovereign small arms production for Defence and this is part of a plan for the next phase of production.”

Lithgow Arms is a local business employing over 140 people in regional NSW. Working with over 120 Australian SMEs, more than 90% of content used in production is either sourced from local Australian businesses or made on site. Over the past decade more than $75 million has been invested in site infrastructure and equipment to modernise small arms manufacturing in Australia.

Thales Australia employs around 3800 people directly and supports over 2050 jobs along its Australian supply chain. In 2020 Thales Australia spent $657 million with 1841 Australia suppliers, of which 82% are SMEs. Since 2018 Thales Australia has spent over $1.9 billion with local Australian businesses.