Illawarra steel will be used to protect Australia's combat forces with a Unanderra firm selected to supply Australia's future fleet of 129 Redback infantry fighting vehicles.
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The local subsidiary of Korean industrial conglomerate Hanwha Aerospace has tapped Unanderra steel business Bisalloy to supply the steel that will be used in the initial run of prototype vehicles.
The steel will be sent to Korea where the prototype vehicles will be manufactured before the full fleet is assembled in Geelong.
Bisalloy head of armour and international trade Andrew Huckstepp said the order was a vote of confidence in the Illawarra's defence industry, only a month after the second Illawarra-Shoalhaven defence industry conference.
"This is a milestone for the Australian defence industry in the Illawarra-Shoalhaven," he said.
Illawarra steel, produced at the Port Kembla steelworks and refined at the Bisalloy yard in Unanderra, is already used on a number of Australia's major military platforms, including the Collins class submarines, the Rheinmetall Boxer combat reconnaissance vehicles and the Thales Bushmaster infantry mobility vehicle.
Bisalloy and BlueScope are also in the prequalification process to supply steel for Australia's future submarine fleet under the AUKUS agreement.
In addition, given Bisalloy's existing connection with Hanwha on the self-propelled Howitzer platform, hanwha has selected Illawarra steel for use on platforms delivered to other militaries, such as Poland and with the potential to supply a number of other countries too.
"It's the quality of the product, the performance of the steel," Mr Huckstepp said. "They obviously have their own Korean steel mills and domestic suppliers supporting them but Bisalloy [steel] has been proven and qualified and meets their standards and that enables us to be part of their solutions for other foreign projects."
Bisalloy will meet the latest contract with its existing workforce and while defence projects only makes up around 10 per cent of the company's order book, Mr Huckstepp after a long at and times challenging process, a focus on local sovereign capability was enabling Illawarra firms to diversify and tap into a global defence market.
"It's a journey that has taken many decades to achieve the level of quality that we're producing and meeting the very high benchmarks set in the defence industry."
