Raytheon Australia has officially broken ground at its Centre for Collaboration in southeast Queensland.
"This new facility marks the next major milestone in Raytheon Australia’s national infrastructure plan, delivering a fully defence industry-funded precinct for the state," the company said.
The Raytheon Australia Centre for Collaboration will replicate the capabilities of the company’s Centre for Joint Integration in South Australia and will act as a central hub for integrated logistics and other engineering specialties.
According to Raytheon, this new precinct will enable opportunities for increased partnership between the ADF and Australian industry to deliver integrated solutions that support the ADF in realising the full operational capabilities of their systems.
“More importantly, this facility will bring together defence industry partners in a secure, purpose-designed facility, where we can continue to collaborate in our role as a trusted capability partner for Defence," Raytheon Australia Managing Director Michael Ward said. "This engagement will also include increased opportunities to work with our Queensland-based SME partners including members of our Capability Plus program – that aims to support local businesses to improve their competitiveness to win defence work while also building local supply chain resilience.”
“For SMEs like Frontline Manufacturing, this facility commitment to Queensland’s defence industry will be a game changer. This will help us increase our capability and our capacity to support primes like Raytheon Australia and ensure that we both benefit and continue to deliver for the men and women of the ADF," Daniel Green, Frontline Manufacturing director, said.
The 7,000-square-metre facility will be constructed over four levels and will contain high-specification capability spaces including laboratories, flexible-use workshops and office accommodation.
The Centre for Collaboration will initially be home to more than 200 Raytheon Australia employees, and the company expects this to increase to 300 employees over the next few years.