The mission, lead by Tasmanian Defence Advocate retired Rear Admiral Steve Gilmore, took delegates from Pivot Maritime International, CBG Systems, Direct Edge Manufacturing, and the University of Tasmania and Australian Maritime College to the Euronaval expo in Paris.

Legana-based Pivot Maritime director Dr Jeffrey Hawkins said it was an important trade mission for the company, as its products were able to be demonstrated on the world stage.

“For us, it was a perfect opportunity to showcase our product,” Dr Hawkins said.

Dr Hawkins said Pivot’s long-term goal was to get portable simulators on board naval vessels.

“We’re designing our systems to be portable, compact and have that high level of accuracy,” he said.

“We’re the only manufacturer of portable simulators in the world who are focussing on this particular area.”

Dr Hawkins said the great value of the mission was to have government and industry working together.

“It made a huge impact where we had navies and very senior people and we were able to get the Australian Navy talking to them peer-to-peer. That made a difference,” he said.

“We don’t often sell a system at these sort of conferences and trade trips, but we had one foreign navy who came up and purchased a $1 million system that we’re very pleased with.”

Pivot was also in discussions with the Australian and UK navies, and companies such as Raytheon Anschutz. 

Advanced Manufacturing and Defence Industries Minister Jeremy Rockliff said the expo attracted more than 400 exhibitors from 34 countries, with more than 23,000 high-level decision-makers in attendance.

“Tasmania’s reputation for high-quality products and services in the defence supply market is continuing to grow, and these missions are vitally important to secure more defence contracts for Tasmania and build awareness and confidence in our ability,” he said.

Rear Admiral Gilmore said the mission was about long-term investment in the sector to keep delivering economic returns to the state.