Thales Australia (formerly Australian Defence Industries and ADI Limited) is a defence contractor based in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

of the French defence technology conglomerate

Thales Group Thales S.A., Trade name, trading as Thales Group (), is a French multinational corporation, multinational aerospace and defence industry, defence corporation specializing in electronics. It designs, develops and manufactures a wide variety of aer ...

. Thales Australia had been engaged in numerous programmes in conjunction with the

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the Armed forces, military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia and its national interests. It consists of three branches: the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and the Royal Aus ...

, as well as overseas operators. It specialises in the design and delivery of various systems, products and services for both commercial and defence sectors.

Services

The company can trace its roots back to the 1890s. It gradually developed its industrial base and grew to become a major indigenous defence specialist, handling the design, manufacture, and through-life support of various defence systems. Accordingly, the firm, previously known as Australian Defence Industries (ADI) has operated numerous long-term contracts with the Australian government and the Australian Defence Forces alike. For many years, ADI was the sole indigenous defence contractor in Australia; however, a rival in the form of

Tenix Defence Tenix Defence was Australia's largest defence contractor with core capabilities in Aerospace, Land, Marine and Electronic Systems applications. BAE Systems announced its intention to acquire the company from Tenix in January 2008 and the acquis ...

was created as a

of Tenix Group company in 1997. While at one point Tenix Defence had displaced ADI as the biggest military contractor in the nation, British defence firm

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

completed the acquisition of Tenix Defence during June 2008 in exchange for A$775 million (£373 million). As ADI, the company manufactured various

small arms A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originate ...

, including the Steyr AUG-based EF88 Austeyr assault rifle at the Lithgow Small Arms Factory, along with a variety of smokeless powders for reloading rifle, pistol & shotgun cartridges. ADI was also a major producer of Australian armoured vehicles, such as the Bushmaster and Hawkei; it developed region-specific modifications for imported military vehicles as well. The production of the Bushmaster reportedly comprised over a quarter of the firm's export sales during 2009. Throughout much of the company's existence, ADI was based on Garden Island Naval Base in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, it also maintained a R&D/Custom production facility in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. During 2004, ADI controversially applied to the Australian Equal Opportunities Commission to exclude workers of certain nationalities for security reasons. During October 2006, it was announced that the

Australian federal government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national Executive (government), executive government of Australia, a federalism, federal Parliamentary system, parliamentary con ...

had permitted the regional conglomerate Transfield Holdings to sell their 50% shareholding in ADI to the

's Australian holdings, the Australian branch of the French military engineering firm. Accordingly, all ADI operations have been acquired by the company, which is now known as Thales Australia. Thales Australia is perhaps best known for its naval ship repair operations and, , leases the Captain Cook Graving Dock at Garden Island Naval Base in

and also leases and occupies many of the buildings there. ADI's large site in St Marys in

Western Sydney Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia * Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that ...

is progressively being repatriated for residential development with their munitions capability being consolidated in

Benalla Benalla is a small city in the Hume (region), Hume region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The town sits on the Broken River (Victoria), Broken River, about north east of the state capital Melbourne. As of the , the population wa ...

, Victoria and their testing facilities being sold to Vipac Engineers and Scientists. In addition to the supply of complete warships, Thales Australia handles the integration of various elements of naval equipment, including

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

, communications, optronics and electronic warfare systems, in addition to miscellaneous support services. By 2010, Thales Australia reportedly employed 3,300 people spread across 35 sites, the majority of which were based in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and Victoria. At the same time, roughly 65 per cent of the firm's activity was within the defence sector, with transport, security, and aerospace comprising the remainder. By 2020, the company had opened two additional sites and had 3,900 employees throughout Australia. Thales Australia has been involved in various aerospace programmes, having specialised in avionics and aerospace-grade electronics. By 2010, the firm was engaged in the

Eurocopter Tiger The Eurocopter Tiger is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter which first entered service in 2003. It is manufactured by Airbus Helicopters (formerly Eurocopter), which arose from the merger of Aérospatiale's and DASA's respective helico ...

and

NHIndustries NH90 The NHIndustries NH90 is a European medium-sized, twin-engine, multirole military helicopter. It was the first production helicopter to feature entirely fly-by-wire flight controls.Perry, Dominic"Rotor club: Our top 10 most influential helicop ...

helicopter programmes, serving as the major maintenance, spares and systems supplier on behalf of the Australian Defence Force. It has also been a supplier of various avionics and subsystems, including digital mapping, navigation, communications, electronic warfare systems, mission computers,

flight simulator A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...

and mine detection apparatus. The company has developed a range of solutions for the

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...

function. By the 2010s, one growing sector of the firm has been its services division. Thales Australia has delivered various programmes related to mass transportation and public infrastructure, including the Auckland Public Transport Ticketing system, designing and implementing

open road tolling Open road tolling (ORT), also called all-electronic tolling, cashless tolling, or free-flow tolling, is the collection of tolls on toll roads without the use of tollbooths. An electronic toll collection system is usually used instead. The major ...

infrastructure, and

gas turbine A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of Internal combustion engine#Continuous combustion, continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas gene ...

containerisation. Transport-specific services include command and control systems, railway signalling, security, and communications solutions. Thales Australia also offers numerous security-related services, including secure communications, infrastructure security, border protection technologies, ID management, and cryptology. On 29 June 2020, Thales Australia agreed to enter into a joint tenancy, alongside NIOA, of the government-owned munitions factory in

, in addition to continuing its sole tenancy of the government-owned propellant factory in Mulwala.

References

External links

*
ADI/Thales Smokeless Powder Handloaders GuideOfficial RAN Anzac Frigate listingThales Australia Bushmaster page
{{Authority control Defence companies of Australia Manufacturing companies of Australia Thales Group divisions and subsidiaries Australian subsidiaries of foreign companies Military vehicle manufacturers