The new “star” weighs around as much as 60 elephants and required 23 containers for its journey to Australia. We are talking here about an enormous machine manufactured by the Swiss Starrag Group, on which, over the next 20 years, BAE Systems Australia Ltd will be producing 20,000 titanium components at their factory in the southern Australian city of Adelaide.

In the BTP 5000/2 by Starrag AG, based in Rorschacherberg, Switzerland, the Australian subsidiary of the British corporate group has purchased the first machine in the southern hemisphere that has been specially developed for high-productivity machining of very long and complex titanium components. Over the next 20 years the factory in Edinburgh Parks (South Australia) will be making 722 component assemblies each containing 30 different parts for the vertical tail fin on the US fighter JSF F35 Lightning II. The stresses placed on these four meter long components, which are up to 80 centimeters wide, and just 50 millimeters thick, are great: The very complex elements have to be machined to an accuracy of 30 thousands of a millimeter i.e. half a hair's breath.

The buyers are confident that the investment will pay off. David Allot, Chief Executive of BAE Systems Australia said: “The new machine, together with our highly skilled and qualified staff, will help us to obtain new orders from the aviation and other industries, and from future defence projects.”