First Nations company Australian Engineering Professionals (AEP) completed the delivery of four militarised patrol vehicles to the Australian Defence Force in July, making it the first Australian manufacturer to supply vehicles to the service.
Michael McMillan, managing director of AEP, said apart from the engine and a few other components, all of the vehicles’ parts were manufactured in Australia.
“This is a capability that is completely designed, developed and tested within Australia,” he said.
Bushmaster, the only other Defence Force vehicle manufactured in Australia, is made by French company Thales, while other vehicles are produced by foreign original equipment manufacturers.
The intellectual property for the vehicles is owned by AEP, which poses a significant benefit for Australia’s strategic outcomes, according to the company’s managing director.
“It means permission doesn’t have to be sought from overseas entities. All the other OEMs are overseas entities: Thales is French, Mercedes Benz is German and BAE is British. That means the IP for those vehicles is owned by an offshore entity whose priority at a given point in time may not be Australia,” McMillan said.
The patrol vehicles are designed for Australian and Pacific conditions and are undergoing testing for technical readiness level 8, McMillan said in a statement.
Based in Townsville, Queensland, AEP employs 30 professionals, which comprises of military veterans, First Nations employees, and James Cook University engineering students and graduates.
The company had received a Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority Grant to initially deliver two of the patrol vehicle to Defence. The order was then eventually doubled.
“SMEs can’t usually work in that space because you’d go broke waiting for things to happen. They need to be agile and have the ability to make a decision, move quickly, develop and move forward,” McMillan noted.
