Black Sky Industries founders Dr Vu Tran, Blake Nikolic and Karl Hemphill at the company’s new Logan facility. Photo: Black Sky Industries.
A sovereign rocket engine and fuel manufacturer has opened its new headquarters in Brisbane and is planning to create hundreds of highly-skilled jobs over the next decade.
Black Sky Industries – formerly Black Sky Aerospace – opened its new headquarters at Logan in Brisbane recently. Headed by Australian Defence Force and defence industry veterans Blake Nikolic, Karl Hemphill and Dr Vu Tran, Black Sky is Australia’s only sovereign developer and supplier of solid rocket propellant and solid rocket motors to the defence sector.
The company produces ammonium perchlorate which is crucial to conventional solid rocket motors used in aerospace and defence industries. It also produces solid rocket propellant and motors, and its proprietary Wagtail Rocket Assisted Take-Off (RATO) technology has been offered to boost the launch of Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS).
Black Sky says it is reimagining how rockets are designed, developed and manufactured at scale, and that its rapid pace to innovate is in line with a key tenet of the Federal Government’s 2024 National Defence Strategy (NDS) which seeks to better integrate existing and emerging technologies, and to deliver defence effectiveness in the coming decade.
To this end, it says it hopes to create hundreds of advanced manufacturing and defence industry jobs over the next decade.
The company says it proprietary software platform ‘Cortex1.ai’ underpins every stage of its processes, from research and development where they capture and process launch and static fire data, to the design, development and simulated and real world testing of all of its products.
Company CEO Blake Nikolic says the company’s complex rocket manufacturing is done with a high degree of innovation, security and safety, but at much lower cost than others.
“This has the potential to save Australia and our allies billions of dollars and ensure taxpayer funds can be utilised in other areas,” he said.
“We innovate, move quickly, and deliver results. We achieve what others won’t even attempt and we imagine the unimaginable and bring it to life.
“Like traditional technology and software companies, we have a strong focus on product velocity, a concept we think will be essential in future defence technology development.”
Dr Tran said Black Sky will help secure and strengthen local defence supply chains and reduce Australia’s dependence on external jurisdictions.
“Australia spends $50-$55 billion on defence each year, yet we’re lucky to have just one company in the top 100 list of defence suppliers. Black Sky aims to change that,” he said.
“Having sovereign defence capability will help Australia achieve greater efficiency and resilience in the delivery of 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,” he 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.”
