Boost to defence industry capabilities with opening of new operation in Victoria
Supacat’s first international facility opened in Australia
Melbourne, Australia, 13 Dec 2012. Victoria’s defence industry capabilities have been boosted with the opening of Supacat’s new facility in Port Melbourne today, by the Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare.
It is the first international operation for Supacat, whose special operations vehicles are used by the Australian Defence Force and other elite land forces around the world.
“Australia is the first country outside the United Kingdom where Supacat provides complete in-country support from prototype design right through to spares and maintenance. It means we can work closely with our customer, the Australian Defence Force (ADF), to ensure the vehicles our soldiers are using are the best and safest possible, for the environments where they are deployed,” the Managing Director of Supacat Pty Ltd, Michael Halloran said.
The Australian Army has used Supacat’s High Mobility Transporter (HMT), a light to medium load carrier, since 2009. Known as the Nary, the HMT was specially designed for off-road use by Special Forces. A prototype of the next generation HMT Extenda will soon be delivered by Supacat[1] to the ADF for evaluation, under JP2097 Phase 1B.
Supacat’s new facility will provide logistics support to the existing Nary fleet as well as supporting the prototype during its evaluation. It is staffed by design, analysis and systems engineering professionals, as well as specialist project management and support personnel.
“The availability of these skills was a key factor in choosing Australia as the place for our first international operation. As the business grows in both Australia and Asia, we expect the growth in these high value jobs will be significant,” Mr Halloran said.
[1] Supacat partnered with a team of Australian companies to win the tender to develop the prototype.
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Further information:
Australia
Bob Parker, BDM – Defence, Supacat Pty Ltd +61 (0) 418 854 364 or [email protected] or Megan Burges +61 (0) 417 535 510 or [email protected]
Global
Celia Turner, CTPR, +44 (0)7703 344425 or Jamie Clarke, Supacat Ltd, + 44 (0)1404 891777/ +44 (0)7921 973916 [email protected]