Adelaide’s ASC wants to build promised nuclear boats

The government-owned company that built the Collins-class submarines says it has what it takes to build the nation’s nuclear-powered submarines.

The first Collins class submarine in the water in 1994.

The government-owned company that built the Collins-class submarines says it has “all the core attributes” needed to build the nation’s promised nuclear-powered submarines.

Adelaide-based ASC, which maintains the Collins boats but was overlooked to build the now-cancelled Attack-class boats, is represented on the government’s nuclear submarine task force.

ASC chief executive Stuart Whiley said the government had not suggested ASC could be involved in the submarine program, but would “strive to have every opportunity to be involved inside that future endeavour”.

“I believe ASC certainly has all the core attributes to be a future builder of a nuclear platform into the future,” Mr Whiley told a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday.

“Those decisions have to be made by the task force, but certainly ASC would want to position itself for a key role (in the program).

“Certainly, we have the shipbuilding skills that we can grow a future workforce from.”

ASC was privately owned when it built the Collins submarines, and was nationalised in the year 2000.

It was famously derided by former Liberal defence minister David Johnston, who said in 2014 that he “wouldn't trust them to build a canoe”.

But despite early problems, the Collins have for years exceeded availability benchmarks and are “one of the most capable conventional submarines in the world”, according to Defence Minister Peter Dutton.

Mr Whiley’s comments come amid concerns in the defence community that building nuclear-powered submarines in Adelaide, as promised by Scott Morrison, would take too long and be overwhelmingly expensive.

The government-owned Australian Naval Infrastructure said “substantial modifications” were likely to be required to build nuclear submarines at Adelaide’s Osborne shipyards.

“It is likely that the nuclear submarines will be longer, they will be larger in diameter, and they will be (of) a heavier displacement,” ANI chief executive Andrew Seaton said.

“We will of course have to engineer nuclear safety and nuclear security requirements, so I think the yard will look quite different.”

Mr Seaton said $360 million had already been spent upgrading Osborne to build the Attack-class boats.

He confirmed more than 500 construction jobs at Osborne were now uncertain, following a halt to the majority of works at the site.

ASC’s Mr Whiley said he believed the submarine sustainment company could absorb workers from the Attack-class program who wanted to transfer to the government business entity.

Mr Whiley said 286 had already shifted to ASC under the government’s new Sovereign Shipbuilding Talent Pool arrangement.

Senate estimates heard 546 workers had been made redundant from the Attack-class program, but Mr Whiley said he believed the final number who opted to take up work at ASC would be “a much smaller number”.

“Many of the other primes are looking to take some of these personnel,” he said.

“They have got key and core skills that are very desirable at this point in time, given the amount of work that is going on in shipbuilding.”

Mr Whiley declined to speculate on when construction could start on the first nuclear sub but noted ASC built six Collins boats within 16 years, starting from a brownfields site in the late 1980s.

He said it was unclear how long the Collins-class submarines would be required to remain in service, after “life-of-type-extension” upgrades on all six boats commencing with HMAS Farncomb in 2026.

The LOTE works will extend each submarine’s life for a decade, with Farncomb to be retired in 2038, and the remaining Collins boats decommissioned at two year intervals until 2048.

The Chief of the Navy Mike Noonan said earlier this month he wouldn’t “write off the opportunity for us to further upgrade these submarines beyond that ­period of LOTE”.

Under questioning by Labor Senator Penny Wong, Mr Whiley said the government had not raised the prospect of further life-of-type-extensions on the boats.

“When I heard that I wasn’t clear what he was saying to be honest,” he said.

Mr Whiley also confirmed there had been no request from the government for the Collins submarines to be fitted with a more modern air independent propulsion system, which would allow it to run for longer underwater without having to come up periscope depth to run its diesel engines.