Birdon US President Jim Ducker briefed Australian Minister for Defence Industry Christopher Pyne at the SeaAirSpace expo in the United States last month.
Birdon is one of only two Australian suppliers to contract directly to the US defence forces and is currently constructing specialised bridge erection boats for the army.
“It was a great opportunity to update the minister on the good work we are doing at our US facility and the great relationship we have developed with the army over the past couple of years,” Mr Ducker said
“We have had some great feedback on the contract recently and we are looking forward to moving into full production mode which will see us producing 5 boats per month.”
Birdon is currently in low rate initial production phase which involves building two boats per month. Fifty have been completed to date and the full contract calls for 374 vessels in total.
Birdon’s subsidiary, NamJet, is also subcontracting to Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to provide propulsion systems for the US Army’s Assault Amphibious Vehicles (AAV).
“These are two really exciting and significant projects and it was fantastic to bring the Minister up to speed with all the hard work that has gone into them to date,” Mr Ducker said.