The Expert Panel of the Future Submarine Industry Skills
Plan has begun consultations with defense manufacturers and educational
institutions to identify the country's skills base within the ship construction
supply chain as a prelude to tendering and production.
On the Expert Panel are senior executives from Australia 's
main shipbuilders ASC, Austal, BAE Systems and Forgacs Engineering as well as
chief executive officers of major naval systems integration companies --
Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, Thales, Saab Systems and BAE Systems.
Also on the panel are representatives from unions and the
government's Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary
Education.
Last month the government set aside $214 million for initial
studies to determine the country's submarine building capability to construct
the 12 ships, none of them to be nuclear.
The government is also looking at land-based test
facilities.
"The Future Submarine Project is the biggest and most
complex defense project Australia
has ever embarked upon," Minister for Defense Materiel Jason Clare said.
"Hundreds of companies and thousands of workers will be
required to support the construction of Australia 's future submarines. The
Industry Skills Plan will establish a road map to build and sustain the skills
required to successfully deliver Australia 's Future Submarine
capability," he said.
The panel's terms of reference means it will be looking at
systems design, naval architecture, propulsion and combat system engineering,
production engineering, project planning and control, production scheduling,
material procurement, risk management, budget control and financial accounting.
Also investigated will be Australia 's supply of hard
manufacturing and trade skills such as welders, boilermakers and electricians.
The government is considering the purchase of off-the-shelf
ships from French builder DCNS, designer of the Scorpion, HD of Germany which
builds the Type 212 and Type 214 submarines and from Nirvana in Spain, designer
of the S-80 submarine.
In December the Department of Defense issued requests for
information to DCNS, HD and Nirvana. It also signed a deal with Babcock for a
study into a land-based propulsion test site, a report by Defense.com news Web
site said.
But the government, in an effort to keep its six Collins
class submarines updated until the new boats arrive, is talking with Swedish
ship designer and builder Kockums to study obsolescence issues that may arise.
The Collins class submarines were built in the 1990 and
2000s and decommissioning will start likely by 2025.
The fleet is being enlarged because of concerns over
increases in the naval forces of Australia 's
Southeast Asian neighbors, in particular China which is in the process of
introducing its first aircraft carrier.
(UPI)
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