Land - Ordnance

ADI's Land - Ordnance Group provides the technological edge to the strategic ordnance and weapon requirements of the Australian Defence Force and also manufactures high quality ordnance, small arms weapons, handcuffs and light engineering products for the commercial market.

• ADI supplies the highest standard of purpose engineered products for employment in all terrain and environmental situations through:
• Complete in-house product development
• Research and design
• State-of-the-art manufacturing methods
• Through life support services

Marketing and Product Development

Marketing and product development staff, headquartered in Melbourne Victoria, provide a range of design and development services for ordnance related products. A full range of client services is also provided to ensure the efficient management of ongoing ADI/client relationships and the highest level of customer satisfaction.

Benalla facility, Victoria

A long-term exclusive agreement to supply munitions to the Australian Defence Force is being met from ADI's AUD$160 million manufacturing facility in Benalla, Victoria. This modern facility, opened in August 1996, is capable of meeting ADI's obligations to the Australian Defence Force on a single shift basis.

Manufacturing covers some 40 product lines including small arms ammunition (SAA) for rifles, machine guns and cannon, large calibre ammunition for naval and field artillery use, together with grenades, aircraft bombs, and numerous miscellaneous items. Training products are an important element of the product range and include practice bombs and target practice ammunition for the Royal Australian Air Force's F111 and F18 aircraft, together with battlefield simulators and practice hand grenades. The broad manufacturing categories currently available at the Benalla facility include:

Mulwala facility, NSW

Propellants, chemicals and high explosives are manufactured at our Mulwala facility in New South Wales. The Australian Government has committed AUD$200m to team with ADI in the modernisation of the Mulwala facility. The new technologies and state-of-the-art production facility will enable ADI to meet the ADF's strategic requirements for propellant and high explosives. Further efficiencies and enhanced capabilities will enable niche market development and further commercial opportunities.

Current products manufactured at the Mulwala facility include:

Light Engineering facility - Lithgow, NSW

	ADI's Lithgow facility, New South Wales

ADI's Lithgow Facility, 150 kms west of Sydney, undertakes precision machining from 2mm to 300mm diameter and to 500mm cube. Complex assembly work and the manufacture and remanufacture of small arms is also undertaken.

Lithgow boasts a comprehensive heat treatment capability and ferrous investment casting foundry. Metal finishing includes hard chromium, nickel plating and painting.

• 65 hectare site
• 10 main buildings
• Number of employees - 100

Benchmark Projects

• AUD$1.7 billion, seventeen year contract, Strategic Agreement Munitions Supply (SAMS), to provide munitions for the Australian Defence Force from ADI's Benalla facility
• Under contract to BAE Systems ADI designed the folding aerodynamic control fins and thrust vector control units for the NATO Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile program.
• ADI has exported over 3,100 tonnes of propellant to the US since its relationship with Hodgdon commenced in 1989. Hodgdon-Powder Co. Inc is ADI's distributor of sporting powders in the USA and market share and sales have steadily increased over the term of the relationship.
• NASA became a customer of ADI propellant in 1996, using it to explode the bolts to separate the booster rockets from its space shuttles. The propellant was approved for NASA use after stringent testing to prove its ability to provide consistent and safe performance across a broad temperature range. The recent expansion of the range of chemical products manufactured at Mulwala has also resulted in increased sales.