Sign-up to our eNewsletter to be the first to hear about the latest opportunities, benefits and market news.
The Wollongong Defence industry advantage
Wollongong provides a wide and innovative range of opportunities for businesses in Defence industry procurement.
Defence industry advantages
Wollongong’s advanced manufacturing and engineering sector has a proud and successful history of providing innovative technology and services to both the Australian Defence Forces (ADF) and the defence industry.
Our region’s well-developed innovation ecosystem keeps it at the cutting edge of applied research and industry collaboration.
This focus on innovation along with a strong track record in converting technical know-how into defence capability positions Wollongong strongly for the future of the industry.
A strong track record
The armoured steel for the Collins-class submarines, Adelaide-class frigates and the Hobart-class Air Warfare Destroyers projects were all manufactured in Wollongong.
Defence industry capabilities
Wollongong companies offer a wide range of capabilities to the Defence industry, including:
- Advanced welding, fabrication and engineering
- Armoured steel plate
- Electrical isolators and enclosures
- Specialist protective coatings and blasting
- Ruggedised computer and communication
- Gearbox design, manufacture and servicing
- Engineering design and project management
- Innovation in cybersecurity
A strategic location
Wollongong is around one hour from Sydney and its airports, and two and a half hours from Canberra.
There are direct flights from the local regional airport to both Melbourne and Brisbane.
The city’s industrial precincts, centred around Port Kembla, are just minutes from Wollongong CBD.
Innovation forefront
Wollongong has an established industry ecosystem at the cutting-edge of Defence technologies.
Organisations that support this ecosystem include:
Organisations that support this ecosystem include:
Bluescope
The newly established national product processing and solutions facility known as The Hub helps customers deliver significant Defence projects across Australia. The Hub delivers world class plate processing, including plasma cutting, straight and complex bevelling, drilling and tapping.
Learn morei3net
The Illawarra Innovative Industry Network, known as i3net, promotes the collective capability of Wollongong’s manufacturing and industrial sector. i3net members span the depth of local engineering and manufacturing industry, including companies that provide technology and services to the defence industry.
Learn moreDMTC
DMTC provides defence industry with solutions for enhancing Australia’s defence manufacturing capability. It conducts the latest research in the fabrication of land and marine platforms through its multi-partner research programs and has a node based at the University of Wollongong.
Learn moreSteel Research Hub
Building on Wollongong’s rich history of steel manufacturing and industry, the Steel Research Hub draws on the combined capabilities of the University of Wollongong and partners in the steel industry to create competitive processing
methodologies.
Diverse & innovative local companies
Businesses in the Wollongong region providing a range of specialisations to the Defence sector include:
Arrow Electrical
Bisalloy
Bluescope
BPS Defence
Chemcote
David Brown Santasalo
DCL Engineering
Klondu
Koenigs
Leussink Engineering
Micromax
Programmed Industrial Maintenance
Soto Consulting Engineers
WGE Group
How we can help:
- Key introductions and connections
- Site selection assistance
- Grants and incentives information
