Small and medium enterprises aspiring to undertake work in the Defence industry engaged with Babcock Australasia’s senior leaders at Australian Industry Defence Network (AIDN) NSW’s “Meet the Primes” forum recently.
Aimed at empowering businesses with information to support them gaining work on some of the nation’s most exciting and ambitious Defence programs, almost 100 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) attended an event in Sydney.
Director General Major Surface Ships, Commodore Brad Smith and AIDN National CEO, Brent Clark joined Babcock Executive Director AUKUS Andy Davis and Chief Technologist Karen Trezise, in an engaging panel discussion.
The event provided the chance for SMEs to hear first-hand about current and future opportunities available with Babcock, as well as broader defence industry insights and trends. SMEs were interested in understanding how to navigate the information in the Defence Strategic Review and how to prepare and be visible to Primes for defence related opportunities.
Babcock’s Andy Davis said: “Australian industry and SMEs in particular, play a critical role in the delivery of Babcock’s Defence programs.”
“Babcock is committed to minimising the barriers to entry for SMEs wanting to break into the Defence industry and events such as this help us understand their offering and establish connections.
“Ensuring Australia continues to grow its sovereign capability through SMEs – with Babcock’s support – provides the resilience our Defence industry needs, a huge shot in the arm for our economy and jobs and ultimately, supports our service men and women keep the nation safe and secure.”
AIDN CEO Brent Clark said: “AIDN appreciates all the effort that the team at Babcock did to ensure that a large number of our members were given a detailed briefing on both the opportunities and obligations they have to become part of the Babcock supply chain.”
“The team at Babcock provided an informative and important session, the SME community needs to develop strong close relationships with companies such as Babcock and it also serves as a way for Babcock to further understand the capabilities of the SME community.”
