In 2002 two weapons engineers and a defence consultant decided to pool their skill sets to form a business that specialised in explosive ordnance (EO) and weapons systems.

The trio established Novare to provide specialist services, from individual subject matter experts to complete capability management outcomes throughout the life-cycle of a client’s explosive ordnance (EO), or weapon system.

Novare Managing Director, Greg Wilcock, said the company’s founders recognised room for a commercial entity to offer a weapons systems engineering service to Defence. The skill sets required to undertake the work were highly specialised and developed predominantly in the Australian Defence Force (ADF). Being ex-Defence personnel the weapons engineers recognised that when most personnel trained in their field left the ADF their specialised skill set was often no longer utilised.

‘There were no specialised consultancies where engineers with weapons expertise could go to work and they would end up in other fields that did not fully apply their skills set,’ Mr Wilcock said.

‘We wanted to provide a service and maintain a specialist EO and weapon system capability that Defence could use,’ he said.

Thirty-five of the company’s 40 staff are ex-Defence personnel, and 90 per cent of these personnel are weapons specialists. Mr Wilcock said those that are not engineers are weapons technicians or logisticians.

‘This is what sets us apart from other Australian based defence consultancies. We are the only dedicated weapons and EO company in Australia. Other companies listed on the Defence Materiel Organisation Support Services Panel as having this capability have only a few specialists where we have over 30,’ he said.

‘The successful acquisition of a new weapon system hinges on a number of key processes, commencing with the development of operational requirements and concluding with the eventual transition into service of the item,’ Mr Wilcock said.

‘Inevitably, each of these processes intimately affects the subsequent phases, with significant impacts often only becoming apparent once the item has been transitioned into service. The consequences of poor planning on operational effectiveness, cost, and safety can be severe.

‘With 40 specialist staff, and having been involved in several high profile weapon system acquisitions, Novare has extensive experience in this field.

‘We can carry out and document, in accordance with the relevant international regulations, all necessary assessments for Safety and Suitability for Service (S3) compliance,’ he said.

S3 involves the assessment of an item of EO to ensure that it meets international design safety standards for storage and transportation as well as assessing its suitability for operation within its design environment- such as temperature and vibration limitations, and electromagnetic radiation susceptibility.

Mr Wilcock said Novare can also develop and manage surveillance programs for all EO including aircraft ejection systems and missile rocket motors; conduct life extension assessments on existing items of EO; provide threat hazard assessments, mitigation methods and cost benefit analysis models as well as suitability assessments of specific munitions for acquisition; and provide total weapon certification management.

Beyond this, the company is looking to expand its capability to include the related combat and battle management systems that accompany the weapon.

Mr Wilcock said that this expansion from basic acquisition and consulting to a whole of systems approach for EO management was driven by the global movement toward an integrated and network centric warfare model where the weapon no longer functions in isolation.

Offering a professional service: ‘Novare regularly undertakes internal Professional Development and training to ensure that the highest technical standards are maintained,’ Managing Director, Greg Wilcock said.