MELBOURNE — A Leidos subsidiary has been selected to design the dry dock for Australia’s future nuclear-powered submarines.
Leidos Gibbs and Cox, a US-based company with Australian offices, will lead the preliminary design of a contingency dry dock for critical repairs and maintenance on the submarines Australia will operate under AUKUS Pillar 1, according to an Australian Department of Defense announcement Wednesday.
“This contingency dry dock capability is a critical pre-condition of Australia receiving its first Virginia class submarine and will provide a critical contingency capability for Australia and its partners,” the Australian DoD said in a news release.
The release added that the dry dock “forms part of the Government’s broader investment in Western Australia across HMAS Stirling and the Henderson Defence Precinct for sovereign shipbuilding,” referring to a naval base and a industrial site that are expanding to support AUKUS.
“This design work is underpinned by the Albanese Government’s investment of an initial $12 billion [$8.34 billion USD] to deliver the Defence Precinct at Henderson which, alongside the Government’s record investments in AUKUS and shipbuilding, will support 10,000 direct jobs over the next two decades in Western Australia,” the release said.
Under the trilateral AUKUS partnership, the Royal Australian Navy is slated to receive three second hand Virginia-class conventionally armed, nuclear-powered attack submarines, before transitioning to the AUKUS class submarines that will be operated by the Royal Australian Navy and the UK’s Royal Navy.
The department also announced Wednesday that Australian steelmaker Bisalloy Steel will provide HY80 steel plates — military-grade material — to General Dynamics Electric Boat under a $2 million USD deal for the construction of US submarines.
According to the release, it will mark the first time Australian-produced steel will be used in the build of the Virginia class submarines, and follows Bisalloy’s qualification through the Australian Defense Industry Vendor Qualification (DIVQ) program certifying that it met the US Navy’s structural steel standards.
The DIVQ program is designed to help “Australian companies enter US submarine supply chains while strengthening Australia’s sovereign industrial capability,” the release said.
Australian Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said the developments were examples of the core objectives of AUKUS.
“(It) is about expanding the industrial base of all three countries to deter conflict and promote peace in our region,” Conroy said, “as well as supporting Australia to acquire the most advanced, nuclear-powered but conventionally armed submarines in the world.”