Joint Strike Fighter Canopy Sling being used to lift the canopy from a transport trolley.  The sling provides secure handling of the canopy by maintaining clearance between the sling and canopy and enabling orientation of the canopy during installation and removal from the airframe.

Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), amphibious landing craft and ships, satellites, specialised vehicles, and logistics shelters- Varley Defence has a hand in them all.

This small to medium enterprise (SME) has been finding niches to fill in the defence market for more than 20 years.

Opening for business in the early 1980’s Varley Defence had its start supplying basic transport containers and logistics shelters for the Army, making sure equipment could be easily transported to the field and back in one piece.

Varley Defence Manager, Pierre Sidorow said, ‘in the early days it was about building a container to put things in. Now we have evolved into more strategic specialised work. We design concepts, build, prototype, and qualify through testing and development.’

Varley Defence still makes its transport containers and logistics shelters but they are no longer simple, requiring systems engineering that takes into account the mounting and installation of equipment, annexes, electrical and data cabling, and ancillary services including power and air-conditioning

The company has also moved into developing other products and offering other services including creation of aircraft docking stations and ground support equipment, components, communications modules, specialty pipe work, modifications and integration of military equipment to vehicles, and packaging.

Varley Defence’s staff of 50 people includes ten employees who specialise in engineering and modeling, to create and develop designs; and 15 specialist welders who compliment the various trade skills within the workshop.

Mr Sidorow described what Varley does as often covering the un-sexy element of defence industry work, particularly in the electronic communications world.

‘We gather up the technology and put it into a form and function that enables us to get the capability out to the field and come back in one piece,’ he said.

Their current big ticket contracts are on the JSF, with the company creating a general purpose maintenance swing that lifts items on and off of the JSF aircraft; a device to install and remove the canopy; and a landing gear handling system which has a similar role to the canopy system.

Mr Sidorow said the landing and canopy systems were built for aircraft manufacturing in the factory and there would be a requirement in the near future to develop a similar system for field maintenance.

‘That will give us ongoing business on the JSF project for about the next 25 years; irrespective of the ADF’s purchase decision and at the moment we have another three JSF opportunities pending,’ he said.

Immediate ambitions beyond the JSF contract include obtaining work on the Amphibious Ships Project.

Having recently completed module work on Joint Project 2048 amphibious watercraft replacement project for the ADF, Mr Sidorow said his company was well placed to take on Amphibious Ships work.

‘We have supported ADI in an effort to gain work on the $2 billion Amphibious Ship project and are looking to be quite a significant subcontractor,’ Mr Sidorow said.

A pair of purpose built electronic equipment enclosures to provide Royal Australian Air Force with field diagnostic capability for F/A18 Hornet avionics- Lightweight, C130 transportable and air-conditioned with particular attention paid to thermal and acoustic insulation.

The Landing Gear Handling System (LGHS), shown supporting the Joint Strike Fighter nose landing gear during installation work at Fort Worth in Texas.  The LGHS enables fitment and removal of the landing gear of the aircraft.  Features include the ability to translate and rotate in all three axes.