HII Australia has been awarded a contract to deliver a new Australian Submarine Supplier Qualification Pilot over the next two years, with an initial value of $9.6 million and the option to extend based on achievement.
HII is the largest military shipbuilder in the United States and one of two companies that builds United States nuclear-powered submarines.
The Pilot program will accelerate the identification and qualification of Australian suppliers and products into the United States submarine industrial base.
“AUKUS makes us stronger through not only our military capability, but also through the benefits it is delivering for industry across all three of our countries,” said deputy prime minister, the Hon Richard Marles MP.
“An Australian submarine industrial base capable of building and sustaining a persistent, potent and sovereign multi-class submarine capability is vital to the defence of Australia, and this Pilot initiative with HII Australia is another important step to this being achieved.”
It will be delivered in partnership with H&B Defence – a HII and Babcock joint venture.
HII will identify and work with Australian small and medium-sized enterprises, including those not currently part of Australia’s submarine industrial base, which is critical to growing our sovereign defence industrial capability over the years and decades ahead.
Together, these companies bring decades of nuclear-powered submarine vendor qualification experience to Australia and will connect Australian businesses directly with international primes who have a real and present need for their supplies.
The Australian Submarine Supplier Qualification Pilot will engage with Australian companies nationwide, building on the success of the recent partnership of HII Australia with both the South Australian Government and the Western Australian Government, and complements the Australian Government’s existing Defence Industry Vendor Qualification (DIVQ) Program.