Tasmanian businesses have an outstanding reputation for manufacturing and innovation, and in a further boost Penguin Composites has won a vital contract to supply components for the Australian Army’s new Hawkei protected vehicle.
Penguin Composites will build bonnets and various other parts for the Hawkei vehicle in a contract signed with Thales Australia, and announced today by Defence Minister Christopher Pyne.
The three-year-contract is worth $8 million and is expected to create about 15 jobs at the company’s Penguin facility.
In addition to the extra jobs, the contract will also involve the upskilling of existing staff to deliver this work and production is expected to start in late December with the production of prototype parts already underway.
Thales Australia will produce 1100 Hawkei vehicles for Defence and more than 1000 trailers and the announcement further consolidates the future of Penguin Composites.
Discussions on the Hawkei contract started at the Land Forces 2016 Defence Expo in Adelaide where Penguin Composites was one of nine Tasmanian firms represented at the Tasmanian stand, sponsored by the Hodgman Liberal Government.
A similar delegation attended the Pacific 2017 naval expo at Sydney at the beginning of October which highlights that our own Defence strategy is heading in the right direction, by focusing our advanced manufacturing sector on increasing Tasmania’s involvement in the $30 billion-a-year national Defence budget.
Congratulations to John van der Woude and his team at Penguin Composites. This contract confirmation is the culmination of a long process which has produced an outstanding result.