More than 680 people from Defence and defence industry attended the 2022 DTC Defence Industry Dinner & Awards Ceremony in Adelaide on November 3.
Hosted by the Defence Teaming Centre (DTC) the awards ceremony highlighted the achievements of seven Australian companies who work within the Defence sector.
Small to Medium enterprises swept up most of the awards with Elexon Electronics taking home the newly created Resilience Award for the development of their Intelligent 4.0 production facility and CBG Sytems winning the Innovation Award for their Rapid Access Composite (RAC) Plus, a lightweight panel which will potentially double the service life of steel ships.
Nova Systems, NORSTA Maritime, Tropical Reef Shipyard, SECORA & Norship were crowned the winners of the Teaming Award for their joint venture project ‘Team NORSTA’, which has been actively involved in reshaping naval sustainment in Australia.
Audra McCarthy, CEO of the DTC, congratulated all the award winners and said each year the calibre of applicants increases, making it a lot tougher on the judging panel to choose a winner.
“We had an overwhelming quality of applicants, and this year’s winners can rightly say they are one of the best Australian companies in their field,” Audra said. “Defence industry faced several challenges in 2022, and it is fantastic to see us all coming together as a community and building Australia’s Defence sovereign capabilities.
“It is an exciting time to be working in the Defence sector. Technology is rapidly evolving and developing and we are seeing this enormous shift towards cyber warfare, which brings incredible challenges we need to find solutions for.
“We also have the development of Australia’s first nuclear submarines, which is expected to start taking place in Osborne in 2023.”
Darryl Mincham, Managing Director of Mincham (formerly known as Mincham Aviation), was awarded the prestigious DTC Chair Award, which recognises the outstanding contributions an individual has made to the Defence sector.
Lee Houlson, Vice-Chair on the Defence Teaming Centre’s (DTC) Board of Directors, said Darryl has been dedicated to Australia’s defence joining the RAAF (Royal Australia Air Force) in 1986 at the tender age of 16.
“Over the last 22 years, Darryl has supported veterans’, either as a mentor or in many cases offering jobs to those who have been in uniform,” Lee said. “Darryl believes the skills acquired while serving in the ADF are a real asset for potential employers, so much so that around 50 per cent of his workforce are veterans.
“Through the years, Darryl has worked with; the utmost integrity through the provision of products to the defence forces of Australia, or just being there support a mate who has served. Darryl is a very worthy recipient of the DTC’s Chairman’s award for 2022.”
To learn more about the winners and see the full list of finalists click here.