BAE Systems and Expal team up to bid for Australian ammunition contract

BAE Systems Australia has announced that it will partner with Spain's Expal Systems in bidding for a long-term programme to supply the Australian Defence Force (ADF) with a range of non-guided munitions.

Under the terms of the partnership, announced on 21 November, BAE Systems Australia will act as prime contractor, with Expal as its principal sub-contractor should they be selected to fulfil requirements under Australia's Domestic Munitions Manufacturing Arrangements (DMMA) programme.

Both companies had been shortlisted separately for the DMMA programme, but the decision to enter a partnership is intended to combine the two companies' industrial expertise, Kevin Kitto, BAE Systems Australia's business development manager, told IHS Jane's.

"When we began looking in detail at what the requirements were in this programme we realised that the capabilities that we had were actually very complimentary to those of Expal," said Kitto. "We are qualified in producing munitions for small arms and artillery... while Expal has a product range that is very complimentary to ours and will fill some of the holes we have in the portfolio. Expal also has access to commercial markets and we can tap in to that and see what is commercially viable."