Lee Goddard: defence startups cut innovation from six years to six months
Retired Rear Admiral says private-sector neo-primes deliver defence prototypes in months, not years. But broken trust slows collaboration.
Retired Rear Admiral Lee Goddard sits on boards at shipbuilder Austal, drone maker DroneShield, and autonomous vessel company Saronic. He says disruptor defence firms like Anduril and SpaceX are much faster than traditional contractors.
Neo-primes move designs from concept to prototype in six months, or even six weeks. That compares to six years in the old system.
The speedup comes from access to top tech talent and venture capital backing. Lee Goddard says lower trust from the private sector in Defence Department processes creates confusion and doubt that slows collaboration.
Australia's worse geopolitical risk has sparked private equity and venture capital interest in defence tech startups. Goddard says the gap between fast neo-primes and slow traditional buying is exactly what Ukraine's war showed matters most.
- 6 years
- Traditional timeline
- 6 months to 6 weeks
- Neo-prime timeline
- Austal, DroneShield, Saronic
- Retired Rear Admiral boards
Why it mattersAustralia's defence capability increasingly depends on how fast it can move from idea to battlefield. Broken trust between government and industry costs time the country may not have.
AustraliaAustralia's sovereign defence industry cannot compete with international startups if government and private firms cannot work together at speed. Fixing that trust is critical for Australian security.
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 9 d ago
