Thales Australia invests $6.5 million in manufacturing at Lithgow Arms

The company is touting the investing as a boost for regional manufacturing and puts the city on the map.

Phase one of the plan will establish a modern manufacturing and integration hub for the design, development and precision of next generation weapons systems for the Australian Defence Force (ADF), industrial partners and export customers.

Traditional and precision manufacturing and digital technologies will be integrated, including 3D printing, the installation of automated electro-plating and other metal treatment capabilities.

It will also include a new purpose-built live firing test and evaluation capability to support systems integration, and the acceleration of research and technology development of digitised small arms and weapon system platforms.

Director Integrated Weapons and Sensors Graham Evenden said it was a privilege to see Thales' design team push the boundaries of traditional small arms solutions.

"Our future systems include automated and augmented features enabled by modern networked sensors and sovereign Artificial Intelligence while the system architecture is being developed to support integration with next generation soldier systems," he said.

"Our industrial plan is designed to support the manufacture, maintenance and upgrade of our future systems and seeing this first phase come to life is very rewarding for our Lithgow teams," he said.

Lithgow councillor Ray Thompson said the investment was great for Lithgow and local employment.

"Lithgow Arms is a huge employer in the area and now Thales is reinvigorating the premises and on the expand, they will continue to employ locals down the track," he said.

"This investment is great for Lithgow and certainly will be a great investment for jobs as far as Lithgow is concerned."

Vice president Land, Thales Australia and New Zealand Corry Roberts said it was a step in the right direction for Lithgow which has been the home of small arms manufacturing for over a century.

"Transforming Australia's manufacturing capability benefits Australia's self-reliance and evolves the capability of the broader Australian advanced manufacturing sector, which is essential in growing local jobs, and delivering advanced capability advantage to the Australian Defence Force," he said.

The new development will expand the world-leading precision-manufacturing capability of Lithgow Arms to support new sovereign manufacturing partnerships for strategic ADF programs, including the recently announced partnership with Rheinmetall Defence Australia to manufacture key components for Rheinmetall in support of the ADF Land 400 program.

The precinct will also provide facilities to enable collaboration across research institutions, SME partners, and key industrial partners to create the soldier systems and small arms of the future, and secure the next generation of manufacturing and engineering skills in Lithgow and across the Central West.

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