Brent Clark from DCNS: Adelaide is at the centre of plans to build 12 new French-designed submarines

ADELAIDE remains firmly at the centre of ambitious plans to build 12 new French-designed submarines for the Royal Australian Navy, says DCNS chief executive Brent Clark.

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THE building of a national maritime precinct in Adelaide is not a story of tomorrow — it is happening today.

A world-class naval shipbuilding precinct is already taking shape on Adelaide’s Port River, building on the existing Air Warfare Destroyer and Collins Class maintenance program precincts.

Work will begin next year on the construction of the massive sheds needed to assemble the Future Submarine complete with the installation of the mammoth machines that can bend pressure hull-grade steel. In size, the infrastructure will cover a greater area than the Adelaide Oval.

DCNS estimates that 2800 jobs will be created through the Future Submarine Program with about 1100 direct shipbuilding jobs and a further 1700 jobs in the supply chain.

DCNS will partner with Lockheed Martin Australia as the combat system integrator and the Commonwealth to work together to ensure Australia maintains its regional superiority edge. But that is not all.

Though DCNS is not involved, work will begin on the Offshore Patrol Vessel Program in 2018 and the Future Frigate Program two years after that. I will leave it to the successful tenderer for the Future Frigate project to tell their own story but the construction of the warships, scheduled to start from 2020 will lead to the creation of thousands more jobs in Adelaide.

An artist’s impression of the next-generation Australian submarine, based on the French-built Shortfin Barracuda.

Don’t get me wrong. The Future Submarine Program is a national endeavour and will involve hundreds of suppliers from every state in the Commonwealth, but Adelaide is at the heart of the program.

In no state have local firms shown keener initial interest in the Future Submarine Program than South Australia. More than 450 firms, educational and research representatives attended DCNS’ first post selection process industry briefing in Adelaide last November. As a result, 178 requests for information have been sent to 32 South Australian companies.

As DCNS Australia’s new Chief Executive Officer I lead the team implementing the 50-year program — a nation-building effort which will create a sustainable maritime industry and bolster the Australian economy for generations.

I’m not a local but I have lived and worked in Adelaide. In eight years with BAE Systems Australia, including as Head of Strategy and Business Development and Communications, I was heavily involved in a number of warship projects including the Adelaide based Air Warfare Destroyer Program and the Melbourne-based Landing Helicopter Dock ship project.

To those who suggest there is not much happening with the Future Submarine Program, I say this: DCNS has already established our Adelaide headquarters which will soon boast 70 staff geared to a five-year design program and getting the right people to work for us.

Suppliers for the Future Submarine’s main motor, diesel generators, switchboards, batteries and weapons discharge systems are expected to be selected by October and be under contract by early 2018.

Up to 50 Australian defence and DCNS personnel will soon travel to Cherbourg to assist with the design of the submarine at our facility in France.

The construction of warships will lead to the creation of thousands of jobs in Adelaide.

A combat systems integration laboratory will be completed at Mawson Lakes in 2017 and planning will be underway for the integration facility that will be built in the shipyard itself.

Looking ahead we should have a new shipyard at Adelaide’s Techport including land-based equipment testing and hull construction facilities within the next five years.

By then the submarine construction production workforce will be assembling and the supervisors will be commencing on the job training. As I mentioned, getting the right people will be crucial to the success of the project.

Much effort will be devoted to partnering with education and training providers before construction of the submarines begins to ensure we have the necessary expertise in place and ensure those people get appropriate on the job training.

We will take the best we can get from prestigious institutions such as the University of Adelaide and Flinders University. And we will train the best.

A shipyard is as diverse an employer as any you could imagine. We will need everyone from general labourers through to welders, technicians, engineers, supply chain, technology transfer and procurement specialists, cleaners, administrators, security guards and canteen staff to name just a few of the roles that we will need to employ.

A new shipyard at Adelaide’s Techport, including land-based equipment testing and hull construction facilities, is planned in the next five years.

The shipyard itself becomes its own ecosystem; it is a village within a city. And when you look at what will happen with the Future Frigates and the Offshore Patrol Vessel, Techport becomes a vibrant, state of the art asset for Australia.

In a sense DCNS starts the program with a significant advantage in that we are already producing — a submarine of similar diameter (8.8 metres) and size (99.4 metres) to that of Australia’s Future Submarine. The Suffren class vessels are being built for the French Navy.

We will incorporate many of the lessons learned from the French program into the Australian Future Submarine Program.

And last but by no means least, DCNS is making a commitment to South Australia as befitting a corporate citizen via our sponsorship of research and maths and science based school programs and the Port Adelaide and Adelaide Crows football clubs.

South Australians understand the concept of a showdown. The consequences of one in warfare are far more serious.

But submarines are the ultimate deterrent and DCNS, in working with the Commonwealth and Lockheed Martin Australia to design and deliver 12 regionally superior submarines for the Royal Australian Navy, will ensure Australia is prepared for any eventuality.

What is being created by the Federal Government in South Australia is an enterprise that will be enduring and create employment for many generations of South Australians and Australians generally for decades.

It is an enterprise that we should all embrace and be proud of.

Brent Clark is the chief executive of DCNS Australia.