(USAF)

Chemring Australia and Quickstep Holdings have secured funding for development and cost reduction initiatives for their F-35 Lightning II countermeasure flare work.

Chemring announced it will expand its Lara facility in Victoria to design, test and manufacture F-35 countermeasures, while Quickstep will develop and commission new advanced manufacturing technology at its facility in Bankstown, NSW to supply countermeasure housings to Chemring.

“This exciting new project will involve Quickstep applying advanced tooling and process engineering skills to establish world‐class advanced manufacturing capabilities for production of F‐35 countermeasure flare housings,” Quickstep CEO and Managing Director Mark Burgess said.

In a separate statement, Minister for Defence Industry Christopher Pyne said, “Chemring and Quickstep are excellent examples of leading-edge Australian companies succeeding in winning work in international supply chains,” “Chemring and Quickstep have both invested heavily in this initiative, and have also received funding from the United States F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office (JPO).”

The value of Australian industry development and manufacturing participation on the JSF program passed $1 billion earlier this year, and is expected to exceed $2 billion by 2023.