BAE Systems Australia has welcomed its largest cohort of aerospace apprentices across New South Wales and South Australia, as the company builds its local workforce capabilities to meet the operational needs of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) well into the future.
A team of 19 Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (AME) apprentices have begun their career journey at TAFE NSW Tighes Hill, before moving on to BAE Systems’ Williamtown Aerospace facility and RAAF Base Williamtown where they will support the sustainment of the F-35 Lightning II and Hawk Lead-In Fighter. Aircraft Maintenance Engineers specialise in a Mechanical, Structural or Avionics trades over their four-year apprenticeship and are vital to the maintenance, upgrade, repair, and overhaul of Defence aircraft, ensuring they are always mission ready.
Qualified AMES work across RAAF bases, at the BAE Systems Aerospace precinct at Williamtown or are embedded in RAAF squadrons nationwide to provide air vehicle support services. At Edinburgh Parks, in Adelaide’s north, eight Mechanical (Machining) Apprentices from the Advanced Manufacturing team are training to produce complex titanium components for the conventional take-off and landing variant of global F-35 aircraft.
The South Australian-based apprentices are building a range of advanced skills, including manual machining, fitting, and assembly, to help support our innovative defence projects as well as the F-35 Program. The aerospace cohort is part of a wider intake of more than 260 graduates, apprentices and interns recruited across BAE Systems’ Australian operations in 2025.
The continued growth in our labour force underscores the work by the company and its collaboration with organisations such as TAFE NSW and TAFE SA to help establish life-long and valued careers for people in Australia’s critical defence industry.
“BAE Systems Australia is creating the defence industry workforce of the future to help maintain and strengthen our air capabilities which are crucial to Australia’s security,” said Andrew Chapman, Director Aerospace at BAE Systems Australia. “A highly skilled and resilient local workforce is imperative to ensuring aircraft are capable and available for Defence, and BAE Systems Australia is an integral partner in helping to grow that sovereign pipeline of talent. Our aerospace apprentices across the country are the critical future element of BAE Systems Australia’s advanced manufacturing, maintenance, repair, overhaul, and upgrade capabilities that provide the fundamental input to capability generation for the Royal Australia Air Force and the F-35 platform.”
Teens to keep submarine and shipbuilding ambitions afloat
In an Australian first, high schoolers nationally will have access to a groundbreaking new government-backed program, Forge Your Future, which will unlock career pathways into high-demand STEM careers in South Australia’s defence industry—including its burgeoning shipbuilding and nuclear-powered submarine sectors. Designed and delivered by Australian-founded global tech companies, WithYouWithMe (WYWM) and Year13, Forge Your Future provides students with tools, connections, education, and industry experience to fast track securing meaningful and well-paid roles in leading defence industry companies with operations in SA in the future.
Top employers Babcock and BAE Systems are among the first to support the program and advertise jobs and career opportunities to participating students. Around 2,500 high schoolers in South Australia are expected to participate in Forge Your Future over the next 12 months, and 1,300+ schools nationally will have access to the program via Year13’s Career Tools platform. The program will give students insights into STEM fields that are exciting and in high demand—such as engineering, trades, digital & ICT, and program management—equipping them with the necessary practical support to gain skills in fast growth areas.
New research by Year13 reveals over a quarter of young Australians (27%) are interested in STEM or trades careers in the defence industry in South Australia, while one in six (16%) would even consider relocating to SA to secure this type of work. Despite the enthusiasm, 29% of young people say their lack of awareness of STEM defence industry career pathways is a key obstacle to pursuing work in the sector. The majority recognise that STEM roles are well-paid (69%) and offer long-term career stability (49%), which is likely why nearly half (45%) are eager to learn more about career opportunities in the defence industry sector.
Given one in four (26%) young people mistakenly believe military service is a requirement to work in the defence industry, Forge Your Future will educate students on the distinct difference between the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and defence industry where employees do not serve in the army, air force, or navy, but work for the businesses who support the ADF through the provision of products or services. Forge Your Future is an innovative solution to help address critical skills shortages in the defence industry sector. Australia will need 20,000 highly skilled workers to support its nuclear-powered submarine ambitions over the coming decades. And according to IBISWorld, the nation’s shipbuilding and repair sector is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 11.8% over the next five years.
Forge Your Future is a comprehensive 12 month program comprised of virtual and in-person activities including: in-school events and online engagement, personalised skills assessments, career matching, learning and development for job-readiness, interactive e-learning modules, mentorship with industry professionals, connections with defence primes, virtual work experience, and career events with defence industry employers. The program utilises AI-powered aptitude assessments and predictive analytics to provide students with deep insight into their innate cognitive abilities, problem-solving skills, and learning potential and match them to real career pathways, with a new level of scientific precision and certainty.
Forge Your Future leverages WithYouWithMe’s defence industry expertise and tech platform; Year13’s Career Tools platform, which is embedded in South Australian state schools and national schools; and specialist mentoring capabilities from Art of Mentoring.
WithYouWithMe CEO, Tom Larter, said: “The defence industry is rich with career opportunities but pathways into the sector are confusing for young people to navigate. Forge Your Future removes the guesswork by connecting students with the right training and employers so they can land work in a fast growing and meaningful sector. Forge Your Future is a cutting-edge initiative that uses AI-driven and behavioural science-based assessments to provide students with deep insight into their natural strengths and match them to real career pathways. It flips the traditional workforce model on its head and puts the student in the driver’s seat.”
Year13 Co-Founder, Will Stubley, said: “Forge Your Future is about connecting young Australians with career opportunities in South Australia’s booming defence industry sector. This is an exciting sector with various highly rewarding STEM careers. By aligning their skills and interests with pathways in shipbuilding and advanced technologies we’re helping them discover careers that can both support them and their country in the years ahead. Through this initiative we’re ensuring that young people leave school today informed and ready to take on our nation’s greatest projects and challenges.”
