Starting today, Defence SA will host a three-day series of meetings between the local defence
industry and LAND 400 Phase Two bidders, BAE Systems Australia and Rheinmetall Defence
Australia.

Sixty three South Australian companies will take part in the workshops, designed to give local
businesses an opportunity to showcase their capabilities to the LAND 400 bidders, with a view
to joining the supply chain for the $5 billion second phase of the program.

Phase Two of the program involves producing up to 225 combat reconnaissance vehicles plus
up to 35 years of sustainment and upgrade work.

Background

LAND 400 aims to enhance the mounted close combat capability of the Australian Army’s
Land Force by providing armoured fighting vehicles with improved firepower, protection,
mobility and communication characteristics.

The meetings form part of the Department of Defence’s nation-wide LAND 400 Phase Two
workshop program.

Each company will have five minutes to pitch to the two LAND 400 bidders, plus five minutes of question time. The workshops will be held around the country, starting last week in Geelong and finishing in Hobart in December.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Defence Industries Martin Hamilton-Smith

In South Australia we have long campaigned for maximum Australian industry involvement in
key Defence programs and are fully supportive of this opportunity for our local industry to
showcase their capabilities to the LAND 400 Phase Two bidders.

A program of the complexity of LAND 400 Phase Two will draw on companies across Australia
as part of the supply chain. We have some terrific local companies who are energised and
ready to be involved in the program, as shown by the 63 companies involved in these
workshops.

South Australia is the natural home for the LAND 400 Phase Two program. We have the
skilled workforce with a track record of delivering the most complex defence projects ever
undertaken in this country.

We are already building the industrial ecosystem to support the LAND 400 program.

Our unique combination of a significant army presence, the RAAF Edinburgh ‘Super Base’, the
largest DST Group establishment and the most extensive and capable exercise and testing
ranges makes South Australia the best location for the program.