Hundreds more job cuts are looming at Australia's main science organisation as it pushes through its biggest restructure in decades.

The CSIRO has sacked its Melbourne legal team this week, firing some of the lawyers who have protected its scientific patents for decades.

The axe is expected to fall again later this year among the CSIRO's 1600 scientific support staff, and the organisation's management confirmed on Friday that more jobs would be lost, although it said it could not provide numbers. In more bad news for government science jobs, private weapons companies are already trying to poach specialists from the Defence Material Organisation in Canberra.

This comes amid widespread expectations that much of the agency will be privatised, with the loss of up to 3000 public service jobs.

Defence Minister David Johnston fuelled the speculation on Friday that the government would try to boost private sector involvement in defence purchasing after its Commission of Audit reports.