Hundreds more jobs are being promised in western Sydney with the announcement of a new high-tech precinct at Badgerys Creek airport.
US defence industry giant Northrop Grumman will invest $50 million in a centre of excellence as it looks to double its workforce in Australian to 1000.
The centre will be in a position to service and maintain aircraft and systems, including the F35 Joint Strike Fighter.
It will also work with universities and other institutions to help train highly-skilled technicians.
"This is a very key element in our defence plan and a key part of our plan for western Sydney," Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters on Monday.
"We have been a big customer for defence capabilities but we have not built enough defence material here in Australia and not been a big enough part of global supply chains - we are changing that."
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the centre would mean "jobs, jobs and more jobs" for western Sydney and help attract more investment in the region.
"NSW will have the capacity to be a regional centre for what is a fast-growing and much necessary technology," she said alongside the prime minister at Richmond RAAF Base.
"It is the start of something really great."
Northrop Grumman International president Dave Perry said facilities such as this would be critical to the sustainability of advanced systems in Australia.
"It will help the development of ADF platforms by lowering the turn around time and costs for mission-critical equipment by doing the work here in Australia," he told reporters.
Western Sydney University welcomed the announcement and said it was an affirmation of the university's long-running support for an airport at Badgerys Creek.
"We've always said that to truly benefit the region, this airport needed to be about more than the movement of people and goods," Vice-Chancellor Barney Glover said in a statement.
"Northrop Grumman's decision to make western Sydney the focus of some of the world's best cyber, automation, aeronautics and defence technology sets the conditions for considerable skills and industry uplift in Australia's fastest growing region."
Professor Glover said the university looked forward to "the opportunity to work closely with Northrop Grumman in support of their move into the region".
