South Australia to help build AUKUS subs under landmark deal

The landmark deal, signed by SA Premier Peter Malinauskas, accelerates progress under the AUKUS pact. But he warns ‘time is not on our side’ for preparations to get under way.

South Australian businesses are in line to help build US nuclear-powered submarines under a landmark deal signed by Premier Peter Malinauskas to accelerate the state’s involvement in the AUKUS pact.

The Premier unveiled the agreement with Huntington Ingalls Industries, America’s largest shipbuilder, after visiting its Newport News shipyard as part of his 10-day trip to the US.

Mr Malinauskas said the new partnership would also help South Australia tap into HII’s 130 years of shipbuilding experience to deliver on the “monumental undertaking” of developing a 5000-strong workforce to build the SSN-AUKUS submarine at the Osborne shipyard.

The deal connects South Australia to HII’s supplier capability uplift program, providing a pathway for local firms to be evaluated to enter the company’s supply chain to build America’s Virginia-class vessels and eventually the Australian-made nuclear fleet.

SA Premier Peter Malinauskas has announced a landmark deal. Picture: Supplied

Mr Malinauskas said 53 suppliers were already in line to seize the opportunity with specialist skills in advanced manufacturing, welding, fabrication, design and engineering.

“We want to make sure South Australian businesses have all of the skills and the capability to be able to participate in building the SSN-AUKUS submarine, even potentially supplying to the US Virginia-class program,” he said.

Once they have been evaluated, South Australian companies will receive specific recommendations to bring themselves up to speed with the Virginia-class program, with the South Australian government offering matched funding to address those recommendations.

HII’s Australian boss Michael Lempke said: “We really look at AUKUS as an opportunity to enhance the industrial capability of all three partner nations, and the collaboration that we’re talking about today is a very important next step in that partnership.”

It puts Australia in line to help build US nuclear submarines. Picture: Supplied

About 20,000 workers are based at Newport News, including 750 apprentices enrolled in a skills school that Mr Malinauskas said was a “unique model” that needed to be replicated at a new Osborne training centre, construction of which is due to begin within a year.

“I think it would be impossible to overstate the size of the challenge that we’ve got in Australia, to not just deliver the supply chain but also the direct employees that will be working on the SSN-AUKUS program,” the Premier said.

“The size and the scale of the operation here in Newport News is hard to comprehend, but there is so much we can learn from Huntington Ingalls’ experience and apply it in the Australian context.”

Mr Malinauskas cautioned that “time is not on our side” to prepare the Osborne site to be ready to build the SSN-AUKUS submarine.

The SA Premier visited the Newport News shipyard on his US tour. Picture: Supplied

“We shouldn’t be under any illusions that while there is momentum, we need to maintain that for a sustained period at a very deliberate speed to be able to meet the timelines that we’re all committed to under the optimal pathway,” he said.

“You’ve got to walk before you can run, but I think it’s fair to say when it comes to South Australian industry, they’re walking pretty fast.”

Mr Lempke said South Australia was “uniquely positioned” to develop its nuclear submarine industry, although he warned that while building vessels was “incredibly challenging”, maintaining them was “even more challenging” and was due to begin even sooner under the AUKUS agreement.

“It’s not a capability issue as much as it is a scaling issue,” he said.

“We think the best way to achieve that is together as partners”

The Premier will also use his US trip to visit the General Dynamics Electric Boat facility in Connecticut – America’s other nuclear submarine shipbuilding yarn – as well as Washington DC for meetings with congressional and industrial leaders.

Originally published as South Australia to help build AUKUS subs under landmark deal