Minister for Defence Industry, Christopher Pyne, has said that more than one thousand local businesses have formally registered their interest to be part of the Future Submarine Program – the $50 billion Defence procurement program involving design, construction and sustainment of 12 Future Submarines.
While Naval Group of France has been chosen as Australia’s international partner for the design and mobilisation of the new submarines, Lockheed Martin Australia is partnering with the Department of Defence and Naval Group to design and integrate the combat system for the fleet.
Minister Pyne said as of 1 June, 873 local companies had registered interest with Naval Group, and 227 have registered interest with Lockheed Martin Australia.
Naval Group and Lockheed Martin Australia have held eight submarine industry days over the past year across Australia to brief the local companies about the opportunities for participation in the program.
“The list of what’s needed is long and includes everything from air conditioning equipment to titanium products,” Minister Pyne said.
The Future Submarine Program is expected to generate an annual average of around 2,800 Australian jobs, with 1,100 direct and 1,700 in the supply chain.
“Maximising Australian industry’s involvement in the Future Submarine Program is vitally important to the construction and sustainment of the submarine fleet into the future.
“This will create job opportunities across Australia and secure a long term sovereign and sustainable local shipbuilding industry,” Minister Pyne said.
The Future Submarine Program aims to deliver Australia a regionally superior submarine capability, which will be built, operated and sustained with sovereignty. The program therefore seeks to ensure that the Australian industrial capability necessary to support the build, operation and sustainment of the Future Submarine is established. This will involve maximising the involvement of Australian industry in all phases of the Program without unduly compromising capability, cost, schedule or risk.
“It’s critical we establish the local capability to support the build, operation and sustainment of the Future Submarine fleet,” Minister Pyne said.
Naval Group will design and build the Future Submarines based on the reference design of France’s Barracuda submarine, but we’ll modify the original design to suit the Royal Australian Navy’s needs.
All submarines will be built in Australia at Techport in Adelaide. The first submarine will begin service in the early 2030s with construction of the last submarine in the 2050s with sustainment continuing until the 2080s.
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