At XTEK ,Mr Bond will find a lighter, stronger, more heat-resistant body armour which the United States defence department recognises as superior to anything their country has developed.

XTEK has facilities in Sydney and Adelaide, and operated at Fyshwick for 25 years before moving into bigger premises, with a staff of 21 at Symonston.

XTEK chairman Uwe Boettcher said its manufacturing technology used higher pressure and temperatures than other processes for bonding carbon composites, so it was more effective.

"We get end products that are lighter, stronger and more heat-resistant and with very good ballistic properties, all rolled into one. Theoretically you could use it for making formula one cars, aircraft and helicopters," he said.

"The big thing for us was to get recognition from the US Defense Department, which had been looking for a new, lighter body-armour solution for years."

In a climate of heightened terrorism alert, XTEK, which imports weapons, ammunition, robots and explosive detectors, has experienced a spike in sales of its products for the G20 leaders summit in Brisbane.

Mr Boettcher said Australia's defence industries had come through lean years after the previous government cut expenditure in defence as a percentage of GDP to its lowest level since 1938.

Defence spending was increasing, XTEK had become more aggressive with its growth strategy, including developing its own products.

Assistant Minister for Defence Stuart Robert, who opened XTEK's new headquarters, said the Coalition had put $3.9 billion more into defence this financial year than the previous one and would continue spending more until it returned to 2 per cent of GDP.

"Small business is the engine-room of the Australian economy," Mr Robert said. "It's the engine-room of the defence economy.

"It is fundamental we keep small business moving and turning over, creating and innovating, and part of that is providing dollars and cents we need to actually procure the gear that our fighting men and women require in their day-to-day operations and day-to-day training."

Mr Boettcher said unmanned aerial vehicles held the greatest potential for XTEK.

"The US Defense [Department] has something like 23,000 UAVs in service, an extraordinary number. Most of those UAVs were supplied by AiroVironment, a world leader in this field," he said.

"We are the exclusive agent for AiroVironment in Australia, and at this stage the Australian Department of Defence agencies have very few UAVs."

XTEK hoped to be called on by the Australian Defence Department to protect soldiers with UAVs and give them visibility in advance of what they could hear or see.

XTEK has facilities in Sydney and Adelaide as well as Canberra, and plans to expand UAVs into commercial applications.