The Australian Government announced yesterday a plan to invest $89 billion building ships and submarines for the Australian navy, a move that has been welcomed by Engineers Australia.
The plan involves a commitment to build both frigates and offshore patrol vessels in Australia and a suggestion there may be submarine manufacturing in Australia as well.
The construction of offshore patrol vessels, to replace the Armidale class patrol boats, has been brought forward two years to commence in 2018 while the Future Frigate program, which will replace the ANZAC class frigates, has been brought forward three years to commence in 2020.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said bringing these two programs forward would sustain around 1000 jobs in the industry that would otherwise have been lost and ultimately around 2500 jobs would be supported throughout the life of the programs.
“Substantially, the Australian surface fleet, as a result of today’s announcement, will be built here in Australia because we have confidence with the right structures put in place,” the Prime Minister said.
“We have confidence that we have the workforce, we have the technology, we have the commitment, we have the capacity to do this.”
He said the bulk of the work would be done in South Australia although there would be a competitive evaluation process to determine who would be awarded the tender and, in the process, some work could be done in other states such as Western Australia or Victoria.
With regards to submarines, he held off making commitments until its competitive evaluation process was completed.
“What we have asked the various potential partners to give us is a price for a domestic build, a hybrid build and an offshore build. And based on what comes back to us in the coming months, we’ll make a decision,” he said.
“And again I stress, all of our defence decision making is based on these three principles – the best possible equipment, the best possible price, and maximising Australian build. And they’re the principles that will guide us when it comes to future decisions on submarines.”
Engineers Australia national vice president Greg Walters, a former President of the Australian Society for Defence Engineering, said it was pleasing to see a long-term vision for Australian ship building.
“Housing the majority of the frigate project in South Australia will go some way to helping the State’s economy recover and reinforce Adelaide as Australia’s ship-building hub,” he said.
“Going forward, it is critical the government manages this investment wisely and engages with engineers from design through to completion of the project. Input from highly experienced Australian engineers will reduce overall project risk, driving innovation and improving the financial and project outcomes for the program; especially given these frigates will include highly complex surveillance and defence platforms to be maintained by the engineering team."
Photo Bradley Darvill, Royal Australian Navy