BAE Systems Australia’s shipbuilding business, ASC Shipbuilding, and the Innovative Manufacturing CRC (IMCRC) will together fund a research project to develop cutting-edge manufacturing technologies that will be used to build nine anti-submarine warfare frigates.
ASC Shipbuilding will then use the technologies to build the Hunter class frigates for the Royal Australian Navy at its world-class digital shipyard at Osborne.
Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Karen Andrews, said the investment would allow seven new researchers to join nine others who are working at the collaboration lab at Tonsley Innovation District in Adelaide.
“The building of these frigates is a true project of the digital age and these new researchers will significantly increase the firepower of the research effort already underway at the collaboration lab,” Andrews said.
“The ideas and new practices developed as part of this research will not only benefit the frigates project but the Australian manufacturing sector in general.”
The nine anti-submarine warfare frigates will be built at the ASC shipyard in Osborne using local workers and Australian steel. They will be known as the Hunter class in Royal Australian Navy service and will replace the Navy’s existing Anzac class frigates.
“South Australia has a critical role to play in delivering our $90 billion Naval Shipbuilding Plan, with local workers building two Offshore Patrol Vessels, nine frigates and 12 Attack class submarines,” Minister for Defence Industry, Melissa Price, said.
Premier of South Australia Steven Marshall said that the $90 billion investment from the Coalition Government is creating an unprecedented pipeline of jobs and business opportunities right here for generations to come.
“We know that the technologies being developed at Tonsley are driving growth across high-tech industries, creating jobs and cementing our state as a national leader in defence and space,” Marshall said.
“Along with the massive pipeline of Defence projects and jobs, developments like Lot Fourteen, the home of the Australian Space Agency and SmartSat CRC, South Australia is fast becoming a renowned leader in future industries and advanced manufacturing.”