The Australian Missile Corporation has signed an agreement with the Victorian Government, prioritising local jobs, skills and training to accelerate Australia’s new smart munitions industry.

The Memorandum of Understanding seeks to enable a “ready and able” Victorian workforce to support Australia’s Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) enterprise.

The AMC is an inaugural Australian-owned GWEO Enterprise Partner appointed by the Commonwealth to work with Defence and strategic industry partners Lockheed Martin Australia and Raytheon Australia in mobilising local industry to support domestic manufacture.

The Commonwealth Government recently doubled down on its investment in the GWEO enterprise after the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) prioritised GWEO capability among its “accelerated preparedness” objectives.

The $2.5b GWEO investment – up from the original $1b - includes rapidly establishing a domestic GWEO manufacturing capability, especially for long-range guided weapons.

AMC CEO Lee Goddard said the agreement with the Victorian Government demonstrated the company’s commitment to work with government and industry to develop a sustainable sovereign guided weapons industrial base.

“The whole AMC team is delighted to enter into this MoU,” he said. “A key recommendation of the DSR is the need to fast-track the development of munitions and missile manufacturing in Australia.

“The GWEO enterprise represents a next-generation defence industry that is expected to be in the order of $100b.

“Over the past two years the AMC has connected a collaborative network of more than 350 organisations with complementary expertise.

“This agreement with the Victorian Government represents an important step in realising this important strategic initiative for Australia while growing regional jobs and skills.”

The AMC is an independently operated company within the NIOA Group and was formed to support the acceleration of the development of GWEO manufacturing capability in Australia.