Collins life-extensions a critical test, Marles warns

Richard Marles has warned planned life-extensions for the navy’s Collins-class submarines will be a high-risk endeavour but he believes the $6bn project is ‘do-able’.

Defence Minister Richard Marles visits Hycast Metals Pty Ltd in Smithfield. Picture: Christian Gilles / NewsWire

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Richard Marles has warned planned life-extensions for the navy’s Collins-class submarines will be a high-risk endeavour but says he believes the $6bn project is “do-able”.

The Defence Minister said the overhauls, to squeeze another decade of service out of the 30-year-old boats, would be a critical test of the nation’s submarine-building capabilities and a stepping stone to the AUKUS program.

“This is a technologically challenging thing that we’re trying to do with Collins,” Mr Marles told The Australian’s Defending Australia summit in Adelaide.

He said it was “completely fair” to question the project’s viability but he believed it would be a success.

“Is it doable? I do think it’s doable. I think we’re going to be really smart and really clever in the way in which we do it,” Mr Marles said.

He said it was vital that Australia had an “upwardly evolving submarine capability” as it prepared to build and run nuclear-powered boats and “extending Collins is a critical part of that”.

The planned life-type extension works are vital to prevent a capability gap ahead of the arrival of Australia’s Virginia-class and promised AUKUS boats from the 2030s.

But there are serious concerns in government and industry over the scale and complexity of the LOTE project, which will require the subs to be cut in half to replace their propulsion systems, diesel engines, generators, their power conversion and distribution systems, and install up­graded command and control systems.

Those concerns were compounded in December when the government declared maintenance of the Collins-class boats to be a “project of concern”.

Collins-class submarine HMAS Dechaineux undergoes maintenance at South Australia’s Osborne yards. Picture: Emma Brasier

The ageing platforms have been beset with corrosion and other problems, which put all but one of the boats out of action late last year and have forced the navy to use them as lightly as possible to avoid wear and tear.

ASC boss Stuart Whiley revealed last week that three of the six submarines are currently out of the water, and that the corporation was struggling to catch up on its Collins maintenance schedule after losing 29,000 work hours to industrial action last year.

“Certainly we are behind our availability targets at this point in time,” Mr Whiley told a Senate estimates hearing, but declined to provide further details.

The Australian revealed last year that a classified assessment of the LOTE project by former US navy deputy assistant secretary Gloria Valde outlined extensive technical risks, saying the size and scope of the planned extensions had never before been attempted on the bespoke Collins-class boats.

She expressed concern that ASC lacked the necessary design and engineering experience to extend the life of the submarines for a full decade.

Defence Minister Richard Marles (L) and SA premier Peter Malinauskas speak to a welder, Trinity, at the Osborne Naval Shipyard. Picture: RoyV Photography

The LOTE project will be even more critical if there is any delay to the AUKUS timetable.

Mr Trump’s nominee for head of policy at the Pentagon, Elbridge Colby, sounded a note of caution over AUKUS on Wednesday, warning the US faced “a very difficult problem” in meeting its pledge to supply three Virginia-class boats to Australia due to its slower-than-expected submarine production.

He said AUKUS was “a great idea” but if there was a conflict with China over Taiwan it would be “absolutely essential” for the US to have as many Virginia-class submarines as possible.

Mr Colby said he had told Australia and the UK that restoring the US’s submarine-building capacity was a top priority “so we don’t have to face these awful choices”.

Mr Marles said he was confident the Trump administration would honour the US’s AUKUS commitments.

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie said he believed AUKUS was “a lock” under Mr Trump, but he said it was vital the government “demonstrate a strong hand in future negotiations”. He said this could include a Ukraine-style offer of US access to Australia’s rare earth resources.