Tenix Defence was Australia's largest defence contractor with core capabilities in Aerospace, Land, Marine and Electronic Systems applications.

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenue ...

announced its intention to acquire the company from

Tenix Tenix is a privately owned Australian company involved in a range of infrastructure maintenance and engineering products and services to the utility, transport, mining and industrial sectors in Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, a ...

in January 2008 and the acquisition was completed in June 2008 for A$775 million (£373 million). BAE Systems Australia thus became Australia's largest defence contractor. The company was formed in 1997 after it was split from parent company Transfield Services. It was part of

until the defence contracting arm became known as Tenix Defence. It had two divisions: Tenix Marine and Tenix Aerospace and Defence (comprising the former Land, Aerospace and Electronic Systems divisions).

Land

Tenix Defence provided design, manufacture, modification and repairs to all major in-service military vehicles in Australia. It had over 300 employees in

Wingfield, South Australia Wingfield is a suburb situated north of Adelaide. It lies between the Port River Expressway on the north and Grand Junction Road on the south. The suburb borders Dry Creek to its north and east, bounded by the Gawler railway line and Adelaid ...

and Bandiana, Victoria. Wingfield was Australia's largest privately operated military vehicle facility, offering engineering, integrated logistic support, through-life support, configuration management, prototyping, warehousing, production and paint shop facilities. At Bandiana, the Land Division provided logistic and garrison support services to Joint Logistics Command. This included warehousing and heavy grade maintenance of artillery, guided weapons, armoured and non-armoured vehicles and other Army weapon systems. Major projects undertaken by the Land Division included LAND 106 M113 Upgrade Project and 10 Armoured Limousines (based upon the

Holden Caprice The Holden Caprice is a full-sized car which was produced by Holden in Australia from 1990 to October 2017. The similar Holden Statesman, which was also introduced in 1990 as a model below the Caprice, was discontinued in September 2010. Betwe ...

) for the Australian Attorney-General’s Department.

Marine

Tenix Defence Marine Division was a major ship designer and builder in the Asia Pacific region focusing on the delivery of solutions to defence and commercial opportunities for both new build and support activities. New construction, repairs and maintenance were undertaken at Australian shipyards in

Williamstown, Victoria Williamstown is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hobsons Bay local government area. Williamstown recorded a population of 14,407 at the 2021 census. ...

and

Henderson, Western Australia Henderson is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Cockburn. History The suburb of Henderson comprises land resumed by the Commonwealth Government in 1915 for defence purposes. A large naval base was planned by Admira ...

. Both facilities also performed in-service support. The Whangarei site in New Zealand fabricated ANZAC

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

and

hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

modules, plus build the four patrol boats for the RNZN Protector Project. Other facilities were located in Darwin,

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

and

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

. The division had experience in designing, building and delivering more than 200 naval,

paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

and specialist vessels. Ships built by Tenix Defence include ten ''Anzac'' class frigates and two ''Protector''-class offshore patrol vessels. In June 2007, the Australian Minister for Defence announced that Tenix Defence was the preferred tenderer for the construction of the two Canberra class large amphibious ships known as Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ships at a cost of $3 billion. The ships, HMAS Canberra and

HMAS Adelaide Three ships of the Royal Australian Navy have been named HMAS ''Adelaide'', after Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia: * was a Town-class light cruiser commissioned in 1922 and decommissioned in 1946 * was an ''Adelaide''-class frigat ...

, entered into service in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Tenix had proposed to build the

Navantia Navantia is a Spanish state-owned shipbuilding company, which offers its services to both military and civil sectors. It is the fifth-largest shipbuilder in Europe and the ninth-largest in the world with shipyards around the globe. The heir to t ...

design in partnership with the Spanish company.

Aerospace

Through its heritage, Tenix Defence had an unbroken chain of experience in the Australian aviation industry spanning six decades. The Aerospace Division was established in 1998 specifically to provide a support capability for Australian Defence Force (ADF) aircraft programs. It gained Authorised Engineering Organisation Certification to conduct design on a number of defence aircraft. The Division also held an Australian Department of Defence certification for

Earned Value Management Earned value management (EVM), earned value project management, or earned value performance management (EVPM) is a project management technique for measuring project performance and progress in an objective manner. Overview Earned value manag ...

. It was managed from

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

, and had its own hangar at

Melbourne Airport Melbourne Airport , colloquially known as Tullamarine Airport, is the primary airport serving the city of Melbourne, and the second busiest airport in Australia. It opened in 1970 to replace the nearby Essendon Airport. Melbourne Airport is ...

. The division also worked on projects with the ADF on-site at HMAS Albatross at

Nowra Nowra is a city in the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south-southwest of the state capital of Sydney (about as the crow flies). As of the 2021 census, Nowra has an estimated population of 22,584. Situated in t ...

RAAF Williamtown RAAF Base Williamtown is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military airfield, military air base located north of the coastal city of Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle ( by road) in the Local government areas of New South Wales, local g ...

and RAAF Edinburgh.

Electronic Systems

Electronic Systems Division (ESD) was the technology and electronic systems hub of Tenix Defence and maintained close ties with the

Defence Science and Technology Organisation The Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) is part of the Australian Department of Defence dedicated to providing science and technology support to safeguard Australia and its national interests. The agency's name was changed from Defenc ...

. It was a provider of integrated solutions for Network Enabled Systems, Intelligence,

Surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

and

Reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops ( skirmishe ...

Electronic Warfare Electronic warfare (EW) is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum (EM spectrum) or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponent ...

and

Network Centric Warfare Network-centric warfare, also called network-centric operations or net-centric warfare, is a military doctrine or theory of war that aims to translate an information advantage, enabled partly by information technology, into a competitive advantag ...

(NCW). Major projects undertaken by the Electronic Systems Division included Advanced Air Defence Simulator (AADS) to train Australian Army operators in the SAAB Bofors Dynamics RBS-70 Ground Based Air Defence weapon, LAND 53, Phase 1E Ninox

Ground Surveillance Radar Ground may refer to: Geology * Land, the surface of the Earth not covered by water * Soil, a mixture of clay, sand and organic matter present on the surface of the Earth Electricity * Ground (electricity), the reference point in an electrical c ...

, Phase 1F Ninox Thermal Surveillance System and Phase 2B Ninox Unattended Ground Sensors.

References

{{reflist Defunct companies of Australia Companies established in 1997