Now's your chance.

Lithgow Arms recently opened nine positions to expand its Research and Development (R&D) team at Thales.

R&D's role is to work on the future technology requirements of a digitised battlespace for the ADF.

With the Thales designed and manufactured EF88 in service with the ADF, the R&D team are looking to make enhancements to future small arms capability.

More Lithgow news:

General manger for Technical and Engineering Dr Sarah Sharp said with R&D, it's the initial research of making something that's never been made before.

"You're taking brand new technologies which have never been used on the development of a weapon and working out how to integrate those into the product," she said.

"You can do things that no one has ever done before and that's actually very exciting, and you can achieve and improve the performance of a weapon or whatever the product is," she said.

Dr Sharp said R&D involves a range of different technologies.

"We have chemistry which is involved in the ammunition, physics in the movement of the weapons, the mechanical engineering, electronics engineering, optronics and material science," she said.

She said working together as a team you can achieve more than working as an individual.

"You learn things from each other that you would never find out if you were working on your own.

"You do much more as a team than as an individual," Dr Sharp said.

Director Soldier Weapons Systems at Thales, Graham Evenden said the recruitment would almost double the existing R&D team and diversify the skill set of Thales employees.

"It's diversifying skill sets so we can have a more holistic approach to the next generation of weapon designing and the next generation of manufacturing processing," he said.

"It's an investment for the future and a significant one."

Mr Evenden said Thales aimed to deliver a 'best of breed' capability.

"We are ensuring we support a robust and enduring Sovereign Industry Capability.

"We've been a trusted partner of the Australian Army since our Small Arms factory in Lithgow began manufacturing rifles in 1912, and we are investing heavily to ensure we are on the journey forwards with them," he said.

Mr Evenden said the recruitment was a positive for Lithgow, after a challenging year with COVID-19.

"In saying that, we never slowed down in production here and through some really good management of the team onsite we were largely unscathed," he said.

Member for Bathurst Paul Toole said he welcomes the continuing commitment by Thales into its operations in Lithgow and jobs creation in the region.

"The fact that Thales is set to double its research and development team in Lithgow sends a clear message that Thales is here for the long term," he said.

"Thales are a good community partner and I know their projects are at the cutting edge of technology and this investment in the future means there's exciting times ahead for the company."

For more information and job applications for joining the R&D team, head to SEEK to view the new roles.