Since BAE Systems Australia’s origins in South Australia in the 1950’s, we have built a strong company and a legacy that we are proud of.
In 2023, we celebrated 70 years of operations in Australia supporting the Australian Defence Force.
Across 40 sites in every state and territory in mainland Australia, we have talented and experienced people delivering valuable and significant work. From our city and regional operations to the teams in our shipyards, hangars and the engineers designing cutting-edge technologies, our people are at the heart of everything we do.
We are committed to growing our capabilities, our products and services and our support for local communities. We continue our legacy of excellence through investing in our people, to develop new technologies and innovations that will help us tackle future challenges.
Collectively, we make the impossible possible.
As we look towards the next 70 years, we will ensure our focus remains on being a trusted partner of choice for sovereign defence and national security capability.
Missiles
We introduced our first sovereign missile capability to Australia in 1953. Our engineers assembled, tested and perfected the Bloodhound and Thunderbird missiles that were designed in the United Kingdom.
In the 1960s, we fine-tuned a third missile known as Rapier as part of an agreement between the British and Australian governments. This established a foundation for our partnership with the Australian Defence Force (ADF).
All three missiles were in service with UK and allied defence forces for long periods, with the ADF operating Bloodhound and Rapier.
In the 1980s, we developed the unique hovering missile decoy Nulka, which has been deployed on more than 150 Australian, US and Canadian warships.
We are a key partner in world-leading missile programs such as the Evolved SeaSparrow Missile (ESSM).
We are also investing in Australia’s future guided weapons and explosive ordnance (GWEO) enterprise to create the next generation of missile capability and high-speed weapons.
Aircraft and aerospace
In the late 1950s, we started an aircraft maintenance facility at Bankstown Airfield, near Sydney.
We share a long, collaborative history with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) since maintaining and refurbishing its fleet of F/A-18 Classic Hornets for nearly 20 years, before the aircraft were retired in 2021.
Today, we sustain and upgrade the Air Force’s growing fleet of F-35 Lightning II aircraft at our Williamtown operations, adjacent to Newcastle Airport and the RAAF Base Williamtown.
There are almost 900 F-35 aircraft in operation worldwide and the rear fuselage and internal structure on every tail fin is Australian made at our advanced manufacturing facility at Edinburgh Parks in South Australia.
The first BAE Systems-built Hawk Lead-In Fighter aircraft landed in Australia in 2000 — and has since trained hundreds of RAAF fighter jet pilots. We continue to maintain and upgrade the Hawk aircraft at RAAF Base Pearce in Western Australia and at our Williamtown site.
Maritime
For decades, we have made major contributions to the Australian maritime defence industry, with our people and shipyards playing a critical role in the Royal Australian Navy’s current and future fleets.
Our work with the Navy started with a contract to manufacture and sustain periscope systems for the Collins Class submarine, a project that we still support to this day.
Our now decommissioned Williamstown shipyard in Melbourne is steeped in shipbuilding history. It was the main construction site of ten Anzac class frigates — eight for the Royal Australian Navy and two for the Royal New Zealand Navy. These Australian ships are currently being upgraded and sustained at our Henderson shipyard in Western Australia.
At Adelaide’s Osborne Naval Shipyard, our maritime business built and outfitted out the Navy’s fleet of Hobart class destroyers — which we now sustain out of Garden Island in Sydney.
Between 2008 and 2023, we also supported the Navy’s fleet of hydrographic ships based in Cairns, Queensland.
In the 2020s, we’re leading Australia’s largest ever surface ship project by constructing Hunter class frigates at the Osborne Naval Shipyard.
Radars
We have been involved with the Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) for more than 35 years.
Based on cutting edge work by Australian scientists in the 1950s, JORN started life as a small concept demonstrator in the early 1970s. Today, it is an Over-The-Horizon Radar (OTHR) network that monitors Australia’s north for unidentified air and sea threats.
Where traditional radars use a line of sight to work, JORN bounces radar signals off the ionosphere — a region of Earth’s atmosphere that interacts with particles from the sun — to cover its search range between 1,000 and 3,000km.
By the 1980s, the Commonwealth of Australia expanded the project and brought Amalgamated Wireless Australasia (AWA) on board to assist with the upgrade. This is the beginning of our history with JORN as AWA Defence Industries merged with us in 1996.
Construction of the official JORN network began in the 1990s and there are now three radar sites: Longreach, Queensland; Laverton, Western Australia and Alice Springs, Northern Territory.
In 2018, we commenced work on the JORN Phase 6 program, a midlife upgrade enhancing capability and keeping the radar network state-of-the-art for decades to come. We are also contracted to sustain each JORN site across Australia.
Autonomy
In the 1980s, we collaborated with the Commonwealth of Australia and defence partners to create the Nulka active missile decoy.
Our autonomous systems line of business, now called Red Ochre Autonomy and Sensors, has been advancing our autonomous defence capabilities. This work is rapidly gaining momentum through various product and platform development, as well as collaborations with the Australian Army and Boeing Defence Australia.
From 2019, we introduced autonomous capability to 20 of the Army’s M113 Armoured Personnel Carriers. The vehicles are now used as testbeds for delivering future autonomous capabilities to the army. These vehicles rely on our Vehicle Management System, a technology that is derived from the work undertaken decades ago on the Nulka decoy.
We are a project partner to Boeing for the MQ-28 Ghost Bat uncrewed teaming aircraft, which first flew in 2021. We provide some of its autonomous software and internal flight hardware.
In 2023 we unveiled the STRIX uncrewed aerial system. With a vertical take-off and landing capability, it will be able to operate in high-risk environments and will be suitable for multiple types of missions, including carrying significant payloads.
Community investment
We have a presence at 40 locations across Australia and contribute $1.2 billion to the country’s GDP each year.
In the last few years, our Hunter Class Frigate Program has created a highly skilled workforce of 5,000 employees, with up to 1,000 of them being apprentices and graduates.
Our expanding aerospace facilities in New South Wales’ Hunter Valley region will lead to hundreds of new jobs over the next 10 years.
Current and past veteran partnerships with Legacy Australia and Soldier On are at the centre of our community investment activities that support families of service personnel through financial aid, in-kind donations and ongoing employee fundraising and volunteering initiatives.
As an Australian defence industry leader, we're inspiring the next generation of local engineers, technologists and innovators through our school and community-based STEM skills and education programs.
Your career with us has Infinite Possibilities®
Join our team of engineers and specialists that push the boundaries of air, land, sea and cyber technologies to create cutting-edge solutions for our Navy, Army and Air Force. Experience infinite career possibilities when you join BAE Systems Australia.