defence companies

[blackbetty]

Hi,
First post here. I was referred here from another forum (ausspecialforces(.)com) for more info. I'll copy in the post from the other forum:

"I'm doing mech eng or even mechatronic eng next year at uni and I've recently thought about the possibilities of working for a company like Thales. Does anyone know much about these companies etc / whats on offer here in australia?

I'm just sorta throwing ideas about the place but if we're all honest, how many of us haven't thought about how cool it would be to design a tank!"

This refers to australian companies mainly but feel free to add some international flavor if you want. I'm told there might even be some people here that actually work for Thales. Thanks in advance.

[gf0012-aust]

Hi,
First post here. I was referred here from another forum (ausspecialforces(.)com) for more info. I'll copy in the post from the other forum:

"I'm doing mech eng or even mechatronic eng next year at uni and I've recently thought about the possibilities of working for a company like Thales. Does anyone know much about these companies etc / whats on offer here in australia?

I'm just sorta throwing ideas about the place but if we're all honest, how many of us haven't thought about how cool it would be to design a tank!"

This refers to australian companies mainly but feel free to add some international flavor if you want. I'm told there might even be some people here that actually work for Thales. Thanks in advance.


There's a general shortage of good engineers at the moment. A while back I interviewed 40 applicants for 5 positions and only came away with 2 suitables. One was Danish and the other American both prepared to emigrate.

We even tried pulling people in from NZ but they're in a worse off position than us.

[blackbetty]

so its says on your profile that you're a defence analyst and consultant. Any info on that as a career?

Also with regard to the lack of engineers, is this something you can see changing over the period of 5 years or so given all the publicity the shortage gets? Its just that I hear that despite low entrance requirements for university, engineering has highest drop out rate due to difficulty of course.

Any other info on defence related companies would be great.

[gf0012-aust]

so its says on your profile that you're a defence analyst and consultant. Any info on that as a career?

Also with regard to the lack of engineers, is this something you can see changing over the period of 5 years or so given all the publicity the shortage gets? Its just that I hear that despite low entrance requirements for university, engineering has highest drop out rate due to difficulty of course.

Any other info on defence related companies would be great.

In australia it will still stay bad while there is a resources boom. Why would an entry level electrical engineer take a job in their trade for $80k p.a. when they can go bush and earn $120k p.a. driving ore trucks + perks?

any engineer is worth their weight in gold at the moment. ASC are certainly looking for bodies and Tenix will have an emerging need in 12-18months plus time.

its actually an international shortage.

[eckherl]

I can relate to this, my company has been advertising for a electrical engineer now for the last 4 months and we have only recieved a handful of applicants. This is enough to drive someone in my field crazy due to having to interpet NIOSH and OSHA electrical standards for industrial services and equipment.

[AGRA]

While you're doing your degree you should have plenty of opportunities to look into military vehicle work as an intern. You would probably find that many of the Defence companies would be keen to snap you up and even offer assistance during your studies for a return of service commitment.

Thales Australia's armoured vehicles design team is located in Bendigo with about 20+ engineers there, mostly young. Bendigo is of course a shit hole. They are working on the Bushmaster.

There are other AFV engineers. GDLS Australia in Adelaide has a team and they are hooked into GDLS Canada (LAV, Styker), GDLS Europe (Pirhana, Ascod, Pandur) and GDLS (M1 Abrams, EFV, FCS). BAES Australia in Europe doesn't have engineers working directly on AFV design and construction (that I know of, but could be wrong) but might work up teams for Land 121 and if they win Land 17.

Another company is Vallir (Melbourne) who build the armoured cabs for the Macks and Unimogs. They will probably have some L121 work - 2,400 LSAC cabs for the FMTVs!

The big project in 2013 onwards (when you graduate) is Land 400. Who wins this and how much vehicle work will be done in Australia will no doubt determine your future - if you want tanks.

[buglerbilly]

In australia it will still stay bad while there is a resources boom. Why would an entry level electrical engineer take a job in their trade for $80k p.a. when they can go bush and earn $120k p.a. driving ore trucks + perks?

any engineer is worth their weight in gold at the moment. ASC are certainly looking for bodies and Tenix will have an emerging need in 12-18months plus time.

its actually an international shortage.

Being in the forefront, so to speak, of the WA Resources boom the Defence Industry in Australia is certainly going to find it VERY hard to get the right type of people of the right calibre.

DMO have a HUGE list of senior Projects people they want to get offering up to $123K...........I nearly fell off my chair laughing. Why? Because my Industry will pay senior project people 50-150% more than DMO quoted figures.

Now you may feel that DMO is looking for "specialists" but with respect that is utter bollox when it comes to people like Project Managers, Controls Manager (Planning and Cost Control), Procurement Managers, etc

Some knowledge is desirable, but it is the person's ability to run and manage a project that you are seeking, not his ability to state the case for hybrid electric drive versus traditional drive line diesel. He has "pure" engineering people that handle that.

By the way the Resources Boom will NOT dissipate for at least 10-15 in this state just from known Fields (Oil&Gas, Uranium, Gold and other precious metals, in addition to which we have a $2-4 Billion per annum Iron Ore programme forecast to remain at full speed for at least the next 5-7 years, probably more).

The forecasts after this period are unknown despite what anyone says, too far in the future to be meaningful.

Regards,

BUG

[blackbetty]

as far as i'm concerned 123k is better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick...

so it sounds like there wouldn't be that much trouble getting into the industry in some shape or form? I'm sure that a mechatronics degree would be just the ticket for a lot of defence applications.

DMO is a government organisation right? If so surely that would explain the lower wages?

[buglerbilly]

DMO is a government organisation right? If so surely that would explain the lower wages?

Makes no dofference whether they are or they aren't, they are feeding off the same pool and need to pay the money to match Industry.

You pay peanuts you get monkeys..........and when you are trying to run multi-billion Dollar projects that is NOT a good thing.

It would behove them to have half the people but pay the ones you do retain twice the money. The end result would be better than what they have generally achieved so far.

Regards,

BUG

[kato]

its actually an international shortage.

Iirc EADS has stated sometime recently that they're short about 4,000 engineers in the aviation/space field, globally.

[Systems Adict]

Have you thought about BAE Systems ??

They have a number of parts of their business in Oz. Optronics & Missiles mainly.

here's a link to what's on offer at the moment, if you're interested....

http://www.baesystems.com/Businesses/BAESystemsAustralia/Careers/index.htm

[buglerbilly]

The link below takes to you to Ambit Group's Engineering salary index for Permanent Staff and Contract Staff.

Ambit are one of the HR Agencies that operate throughout Australia.

http://www.ambit.com.au/salarysurvey/engineering.html

Their Permo staff salaries are low for Procurement people by approx 15-30%.

Regards,

BUG