The Minister for Defence, the Hon Christopher Pyne MP, and the Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon Steven Ciobo MP, today congratulated Victorian based company, RUAG Australia on delivering its 35,000th component part for the global F-35 Program.
Minister Pyne said this achievement signified the strength of Australian defence industry’s involvement in the global F-35 Program.
“RUAG Australia is the sole global source of the F-35 Program uplock actuator system and, in achieving this milestone, has confirmed its precision manufacturing and process solutions capabilities,” Minister Pyne said.
“Improved competitive excellence, and the resulting reduction in lead time, has enabled RUAG Australia to meet full production volume demand for the F-35 Program in all three F-35 aircraft variants.”
“This has allowed RUAG Australia to maintain 100 per cent on-time delivery with 100 per cent quality.”
The Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon Steven Ciobo MP, said this milestone was yet another example of Australian defence industry’s outstanding performance in the global F-35 Program.
“Australian industry has reached more than AU$1.3 billion in production contracts as part of the global F-35 Program,” Minister Ciobo said.
“By the end of 2023, this figure is expected to reach about AU$2 billion.”
“Over the life of the F-35 capability, the figures are set to reach more than AU$5 billion, resulting in about 5,000 Australian jobs.”
(Aus DoD)