The agreement is to manufacture parts for the international F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), an advanced stealth multi-role combat aircraft, which would be the mainstay of US and allied air forces to around mid-century.
Australia expects to acquire up to 100 aircraft, worth $16 billion, with the first entering service in 2018. Quickstep has signed signing a 10-year lease over 4200 square metres of buildings which were previously used by US aerospace giant Boeing, which has relocated to Victoria.
"The facility at Bankstown Airport was previously a substantial aerospace manufacturing facility with a workforce with aerospace industry skill-sets in place," said Quickstep, CEO, Philippe Odouard,.
"This represents an absolutely outstanding opportunity for Quickstep to lock-in the manufacturing capacity required for the delivery of first JSF parts in 2012 and support further contracts as they are secured."
The Minister for Defence Materiel, Jason Clare said the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter formed a key element of Australia’s future defence program.
"(The) signing of a Long Term Agreement between Quickstep and Northrop Grumman demonstrates how Australian businesses can participate in this major international development initiative," he said
Quickstep has a state-of-the-art composites manufacturing facility at its headquarters in Perth and development centres of excellence in Germany, the UK and the USA.
