Defence industry and technology company Black Sky Industries has formally launched in Australia, setting up its headquarters in Logan, Queensland, and establishing launch, test and manufacturing facilities in Western Queensland.
Black Sky Industries, formerly Black Sky Aerospace, is Australia’s only sovereign developer and supplier of solid rocket fuel and solid rocket motors to the defence sector. The company aims to accelerate the production capability of sovereign-scaled rocket motors and defence systems.
Black Sky Industries was founded by aerospace, defence and manufacturing industry veterans Blake Nikolic, Karl Hemphill, and Vu Tran. The company has ambitions of creating hundreds of advanced manufacturing and defence industry jobs over the next decade and is reimagining how rockets are designed, developed and manufactured at scale. As a local producer of ammonium perchlorate, which is crucial to conventional solid rocket motors used in aerospace and defence industries, Black Sky produces solid rocket fuel and motors and offers its homegrown, proprietary Wagtail Rocket Assisted Take-Off (RATO) technology for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and drones.
Cortex1, Black Sky’s proprietary software platform, underpins all aspects of its operations, from research and development and manufacturing to powering products and platforms, including launch control, tracking and mapping through data-driven propellant formulation and characterisation technology using artificial intelligence.
Black Sky’s rapid-fire pace to innovate is in line with a critical tenet of the Australian Government’s 2024 National Defence Strategy to better integrate existing and emerging technologies and deliver defence effectiveness in the coming decade.
Tran said Black Sky will help secure and strengthen local defence supply chains and reduce Australia’s dependence on external jurisdictions. “Australia spends AUD50 – AUD55 billion on defence each year, yet we’re lucky to have just one company in the top 100 list of defence suppliers,” he said. “Black Sky aims to change that. Having sovereign defence capability will help Australia achieve greater efficiency and resilience in delivering defence technologies and in our ability to protect the nation.”
“There are myriad benefits to manufacturing locally, including lower geopolitical risks, increased operational transparency, regulatory compliance alignment, intellectual property protection, enhanced ability to customise products, less dependence on international suppliers, reduced exposure to global supply chain disruptions, faster time to market and quality control, with a predictable cost structure,” Tran added. “It also encourages the growth of local businesses while building a skilled workforce to develop a consistent pipeline of local talent with proximity and access to local R&D institutions.”
