Queensland Backs Defense Aerospace and MRO Projects With AU$180.6 Million Sovereign Industry Fund
Why It MattersState-level funding is pulling defense aerospace and MRO capacity toward Queensland, while Boeing's planned MQ-28 assembly relocation to Wellcamp adds a major airframe line to the state.
Queensland is positioning itself as a hub for defense manufacturing and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie told Aviation Week's MRO Australasia in Brisbane. The state's AU$180.6 million ($123.71 million) Sovereign Industry Development Fund has drawn 250 applications proposing AU$2 billion in financing, with defense, biomedicine and biofuel named as the top three growth priorities. Bleijie, who is also minister of development, infrastructure and planning, and minister for industrial relations, said Queensland is home to 26% of Australia's aerospace businesses.
Awards from the fund include AU$6.38 million to Lockheed Martin for mobile rocket test and evaluation capability, in partnership with the University of Queensland, Airways Trade Australia and Rocket Technologies. HeliMods received AU$31.64 million for a purpose-built defense-grade facility at Caloundra Aerodrome on the Sunshine Coast; the government projects the 10,000-m2 (107,600-ft.2) facility will cost AU$78.1 million and create 250 jobs. Black Sky Aerospace won one of the fund's first tenders to build a weapons test and evaluation center on more than 1 million acres of land at Thargomindah.
Boeing, which was not part of the sovereign funding, is moving assembly of its MQ-28 Ghost Bat uncrewed combat air vehicle from Melbourne to Wellcamp Airport by year-end, where the aircraft can also be painted, Bleijie said. Applications for the first round of grants closed on Feb. 27. Bleijie said he is in discussions with the state premier and treasurer about continuing the grants, noting the program was oversubscribed by AU$1.8 billion.
