Pelican-Trimcast to Manufacture First Australian-Made Deployable Rack Case

Pelican has become the first Australian organisation to locally design and manufacture deployable military rack case solutions for the Commonwealth of Australia’s Battlespace Communications System, known as Project Currawong.

The rugged deployable protective rack cases were designed specifically to house Boeing Defence Australia’s Network Access Module (NAM) – the core system networking component of the Battlespace Communications System – and will be produced in Melbourne from December 2017.

“Pelican Australia has made a significant investment in advanced equipment at our design and manufacturing facility in Melbourne - known locally as ‘Trimcast’ -, and is supporting up to 60 jobs to locally manufacture specialised defence products for the Australian Defence Force,” said Christian Nyman, managing director for Pelican Australia. “We are committed to building Australian Industry Capability to support Australian-made products, and are proud to be locally producing the unique deployable rack case solutions in Melbourne.”

The Australian-made cases will be delivered to Boeing and form part of the Material Release 2 deliveries of Project Currawong, with customer deliveries to the Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force due to commence from quarter two 2018, with 10 employees dedicated to the fit out of Boeing’s Network Access Module. These units will supplement those delivered by Boeing as part of Material Release 1, where those rack cases were manufactured in the United States.

As part of Material Release 2, Boeing will deliver the Australian designed and manufactured network access modules to Australian Defence Force units.

“Boeing is committed to supporting our local industry partners as they invest in Australian manufacturing,” said Lee Davis, Boeing Defence Australia’s program director for Project Currawong. “Pelican-Trimcast’s decision to establish a local manufacturing facility is a fantastic addition to Australia’s new Battlespace Communications System, and now enables the locally designed and built NAM to be housed in a locally manufactured rack mounted case.”

With over 40 years’ experience in the design and manufacture of engineered military-spec protective case solutions, the Australian design and manufacturing facility produces a range of bespoke solutions to house and protect specialized high-tech equipment for the military in Australia and other NATO-aligned military customers around the world, including weapons, weapons systems, deployable IT and medical equipment, rotable components and critical spares for a wide range of platforms across Air, Land, Sea and Joint Systems domains.