Inside an old kitchen and pool showroom in Fyshwick, a bank of 3D printers whirrs away, day and night.
In between spools of resin constantly being fed into the machines, a team of 15 are assembling, boxing and testing the fruits of the 3D printers' labour, to complete a daunting challenge Australia has set for itself.
Build a cheap, mass-produced drone for the Australian Defence Force that can be made on shore.
The company behind the frosted glass, Boresight is one of three selected by Defence's dedicated innovation hub to deliver on the challenge, and was provided with $2.2 million in funding to get their prototypes in the air.
The challenge is the first from the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA), and is designed to jump-start Australia's defence industry in key capability gaps.
The brief from ASCA is for large numbers of cheap drones that can be used for surveillance as well as training and photography.
While China dominates the drone market, there are security concerns around drones used for military purposes, and with high demand for the technology, even purchasing the system from allies could lead to Australia having a shortage, if push comes to shove.
This is where Boresight comes in.
The company already makes drones that are used for target practice by militaries in Australia and around the globe, and is looking at using the smarts it has in this endeavour to scale up for the task set by ASCA.
It, along with two other Australian drone manufacturers, will produce 100 general purpose drones, but as chief executive of Boresight Justin Olde points out, the challenge is not just in terms of product, but in terms of mindset.
"There are a lot of manufacturers in Australia that will give you a very good but exquisite product, it'll be carbon fibre, titanium, gold plated awesomeness, and they're very good at it," he said.
"The problem is that you can't buy a lot of these, because they're very expensive."
When ASCA was formed in 2023, it replaced the Defence Innovation Hub, after the previous body funded a number of projects that were picked up overseas, but were not adopted back home.
Mr Olde, who has over a decade of experience in defence industry and years on the other side of the fence in defence procurement, said he had seen a shift, but the drone program would be the first real test to see if the new structure had given the ADF an appetite to adopt home-grown innovation.
"ASCA have been a lot more forward leaning, they've also been less risk averse, so they've been willing to take a punt on companies and fund that journey," he said.
The review that led to the overhaul of the Defence innovation system was launched by former defence industry minister Melissa Price, who acknowledged Australian defence industry and those in uniform did not see eye to eye.
"We need a Defence organisation that can capitalise on the knowledge and skills of Australian industry and academia to develop mission-focused technology that can solve Defence's unique capability challenges," Ms Price said in 2021.
While Boresight does sell products locally, Mr Olde said he saw time and time again how local suppliers were passed over for expensive international products.
"I've worked on a bunch of programs where billions of dollars have been poured into someone else's economy, to buy stuff that we could make here," he said.
Mr Olde said Australian products were generally equal to, if not better than, their international counterparts for the task the ADF was hoping to complete, but particularly on larger projects were sidelined in favour of overseas suppliers.
New procurement rules since July 1 have required a consideration of the broader economic benefits of a contract to the Australian economy, and encourage government buyers to consider local SMEs.
While local industry, not only in Defence, have welcomed these changes, there have been calls for mandated rules to preference Australian businesses, or to allocate a share of government spending to local enterprises, as occurs overseas.
The ASCA is also hoped to turn around Defence's lethargic approach to purchasing new kit.
The 2023 Defence Strategic Review found the armed forces' method of going to market "not fit for purpose".
"Defence must move away from processes based around project management risk rather than strategic risk management. It must be based on minimum viable capability in the shortest possible time," it said.
The mission-focused approach of ASCA aligns with this shift, and head of ASCA Professor Emily Hilder said having already moved from prototype to production standard and commercial-ready by the end of the year was proof of the new approach.
"ASCA has worked closely with industry to achieve a desired capability in a short time, proving that we can build a valuable sovereign base if we work together," Professor Hilder said.
With both sides shouldering some risk, Mr Olde said the greater challenge would be taking this approach and applying it across the much larger contracts that Defence regularly signs.
"$2 million in a Defence budget is a rounding error," he said.
"What if you distributed $400 million among a bunch of innovative Australian companies? That is a huge boost to Australian sovereign capability.
"$400 million to Boeing is another day at the office."
