UPDATED 11/13/2025 at 10:15am ET to clarify the specific sustainment work Lockheed Martin was addressing.
SYDNEY — Lockheed Martin Australia is lining up in hopes of winning the lucrative job of sustaining the combat system on the Virginia-class submarines for Canberra when the boats enter service as part of the trilateral AUKUS agreement.
At the Indo Pacific International Maritime Expo in Sydney, Lockheed officials argued during a media brief on Wednesday that the company was a natural choice due to its expertise, its local workforce with relevant skillsets and its ability to tap into the resources of its US parent.
American-made Virginia-class subs are due to be transferred to Australia from 2032 onwards, while the future SSN-AUKUS submarines of a new design are being developed and built, said Lauren Benson, the Maritime Business and Strategy Lead at Lockheed Martin Australia’s Rotary and Mission Systems Division. This includes general upkeep of the combat management system and other systems of the boats such as the sonars and weapons systems, as well as futures upgrades of onboard software and hardware.
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She added that Lockheed Martin had expanded its workforce when it was selected as the combat systems integrator for Australia’s proposed Attack-class diesel electric submarine, whose development was cancelled in favour of the SSN-AUKUS in 2021.
“We had developed a workforce of over 200 or so combat systems engineers and designers across the space of about three years, which we have retained and obviously have available to deploy,” she said.
David G. Schappert, Undersea Systems Business Development Principal at Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems in the US and a former US Navy submariner with 30 years’ experience, said that the company has a classified laboratory space in Manassas, Va., where it has built and maintains every variation of the hardware and software setup on board US Navy submarines.
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That enables the staff onsite to replicate any reported problem from submarines operating around the globe, figure out how to fix the issue and bring the boat back to full combat capability, he added.
“We provide troubleshooting and sustainment support if anything goes wrong on the submarines, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.”
Benson summed up Lockheed Martin’s pitch by saying that the company was uniquely qualified to bring forward its expertise not just in combat systems on the Virginia-class and marrying it with a local workforce.
“That makes us a natural partner, and specifically, a low-risk partner.”