19 February 2021

UK and Australia collaborate to accelerate advanced materials in military platforms

Defence R&D ties between UK and Australia are to be strengthened under a bilateral international programme to accelerate integration of advanced materials into military platforms.

Soldiers in a vehicle
© Diego González/unsplash

Nine teams across both nations have received Phase 2 funding worth a total of nearly £1.5mln from the UK and Australian Governments to develop innovative proposals covering integration of composites, adhesives for structural joining, joining high-temperature structures and improving armour systems.

In the UK, successful consortia are:

  • Foresight Innovations Limited, Hephaestus Consulting, Nottingham Trent University and Matrix Composites
  • TWI Limited
  • University of Surrey, QinetiQ and the National Composites Centre
  • Zentraxa Limited and QinetiQ Australia

Successful Australian teams are:

  • Western Sydney University, Imperial College London, Metrologi Pty Ltd, UNSW and AirBus Australia Pacific
  • Qinetiq Australia Pty Ltd and RMIT
  • University of New South Wales, Imperial College London, Advanced Composite Structures Australia Pty Ltd
  • University of Adelaide, Research Institute of Saint-Louis (ISL – France) and the Materials Science Institute
  • RMIT University

The joint effort gives both nations access to international research using a total pooled fund of around £2.52mln from the two phases of the competition so far. Across the themes, individual proposals were also chosen to support mutual reliance with one nation taking the lead. The new projects will run for up to two years.

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