- Thales Australia
Thales Australia (formerly ADI Limited) was the primary defence contractor for the
Australian Defence Force . It provided most standard equipment for the ADF from the F88Austeyr (Based on theSteyr AUG ) to designs for vessels for the Australian Navy. ADI also produced a variety of smokeless powders for reloading rifle, pistol & shotgun cartridges, although were better known for their production of Australian armoured vehicles, such as the Bushmaster, producing Australian specific modifications to imported military vehicles, and building the "Anzac" class frigates at Williamstown in Australia.In previous years, ADI was the sole defence contractor in Australia, although this changed with the creation of the
Tenix Group company,Tenix Defence . Tenix itself was a tear-away company of Transfield Holdings, 50% shareholders of ADI, which broke off after the retirement of the original Transfield owner Franco Belgiorno-Nettis. The company passed into his sons hands, Luca, Guido, and Marco; who subsequently broke the company up into three parts, Transfield Services, Transfield Holdings, and Tenix.ADI was based on Garden Island Naval Base in Sydney, New South Wales, though they also maintained a R&D/Custom production facility in Brisbane, Australia. In 2004 they applied to the Australian Equal Opportunities Commission to exclude workers of certain nationalities for security reasons. [cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200409/s1190477.htm|work=ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) News |date=2004-09-02 |title=Defence firm seeks to exclude workers based on nationality |accessdate=2008-02-04]
In October 2006, the Australian federal government allowed Transfield Holdings to sell their 50% shareholding in ADI to Thales Australian Holdings, the Australian branch of the French military engineering firm. All ADI operations have been taken over by the company, which is now known as Thales Australia. [cite news|url=http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=2171122&C=europe|work=Defense News|date=2006-12-10|title=Australia Gives Thales Green Light To Fully Acquire ADI
accessdate=2008-02-04]References
External links
* [http://www.adi-limited.com/default.asp ADI/Thales Website]
* [http://www.adi-limited.com/handloaders-guide/ ADI/Thales Smokeless Powder Handloaders Guide]
* [http://www.navy.gov.au/w/index.php/Anzac_Class Official RAN Anzac Frigate listing]
* [http://www.adi-limited.com/default.asp?page=154 Thales Australia Bushmaster page]
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