The Federal Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon. Christopher Pyne did not quite make it to our stand but nearly.
The Land Forces 2016 statistics were impressive. The attendance exceeded 13,000; there were over 500 participating exhibitors from 23 countries and senior representation by 16 of the world’s armies. Overall the mood was upbeat, the technology on display was impressive and feedback from attendees was positive. We rated it the best Land Forces for some time.
Red Team would like to thank attendees for taking time out to visit our exhibition stand at Land Forces 2016. We very much appreciate it. It was our first time to exhibit at an event of this scale and it exceeded our expectations. Our main takeaways were:
1. The Federal Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon. Christopher Pyne delivered an enthusiastic keynote address to the Land Forces conference dinner. He emphasised the need for urgency and to get things right from the outset to meet the Federal Governments aim of delivering national security and national prosperity for decades to come. Some of his speech highlights included:
– The relationship with industry must change and industry needed to be involved much earlier in Defence capacity development. He expects Defence, industry and state and territory government to work closely to maximise return on investment and ensure the best capability and support is made available to the ADF.
– He is aiming for the best possible equipment to be made available for our forces and the investment of funding in Australia where possible.
– He wants Defence funding to drive high technology, advanced manufacturing and in the process, sustainably support Australian SME’s.
– He announced the three 2016/17 defence innovation priorities, focused on enhancing intelligence, surveillance, electronic warfare and cyber security.
2. Innovation: We were disappointed at the lack of information available on the Defence Innovation System initiatives through the various government agencies represented at the exhibition. In particular, it would have been useful to discover more on the business processes and proposed changes to Defence culture to provide an improved environment for Australian industry innovation. We are now in Q4 and still no further announcements. Given Minister Pyne has set an ambitious agenda and lack of information and ongoing delays are concerning.
Congratulations to Australian Defence Apparel and Marathon Targets on taking out the leading Australian Industry Innovation Awards.