In an excellent article, REUTERS, via The Strait Times, reported March 21/22, 2024 https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/australia-earmarks-billions-for-naval-infrastructure-as-bae-wins-aukus-submarine-work
"Australia earmarks billions for naval infrastructure as British
firm wins Aukus submarine work"
"SYDNEY - Australia said on March 21 that it would spend billions of
dollars on docks, shipyards and factories at home and in Britain for nuclear-powered
submarines under the Aukus security pact, and named Britain’s BAE Systems
to help build the boats.
The Aukus agreement among Australia, Britain and the United States will see Australia buy up to five nuclear submarines from Washington in the early 2030s, before jointly building and operating a new class, SSN-Aukus, with Britain, roughly a decade later.
The pact, which will see Australia become the seventh nation to operate nuclear-powered submarines, will stress shipyards in Britain and the US that are already beset by delays and cost overruns.
To help alleviate the strain, Australia will give Britain £2.4 billion [AU$4.6 billion] towards design work on the conventionally armed SSN-Aukus and expanding a Rolls-Royce plant that builds nuclear reactors for submarines.
Australia has already agreed to invest US$3 billion [also AU$4.6 billion] in US shipyards, which build the Virginia-class nuclear submarines that will be sold early next decade amid concerns that a backlog of orders could jeopardise the deal.
“What Aukus is doing is allowing Australian industry to further invest here, but there are opportunities also opening up with our UK and US partners,” [Australian] Defence Minister Richard Marles said in a statement on March 21.
Australia will also invest AU$1.5 billion to prepare a naval base in Western Australia for nuclear submarines, in particular, a US and British force set to be based there part of each year starting in 2027.
The total cost of the work is expected to be about AU$8 billion.
Australian and British foreign and defence ministers will officially launch the investments on March 22 at a joint news conference at shipyards in South Australia, where Australia will build its Aukus fleet.
Australia said BAE Systems had been selected to build the submarines in South Australia in partnership with local naval firm ASC.
Work is expected to start in the late 2020s, after at least AU$2 billion worth of new shipbuilding facilities are completed.
Once the submarines are in the water, ASC will handle maintenance and logistics. The firm, which builds and maintains Australia's diesel-powered Collins-class fleet, will work with unspecified US and British companies.
SSN-Aukus submarines will also be built in Britain, and BAE won a £4 billion contract in October 2023 to start design work and infrastructure at the [UK] shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness.
Nuclear submarines require a specialised workforce, and BAE and ASC will set up a joint skills centre in South Australia to begin training workers.
Australia plans to send roughly 100 ASC workers to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 2025 to train at the US naval facility there. REUTERS"
On March 22, 2024 GhalibKabir commented:
ReplyDeleteOn Australia "and its SSN program, it looks like slow progress...
https://www.rolls-royce.com/media/press-releases/2023/13-03-2023-nuclear-reactors-from-rolls-royce-to-power-australian-submarines.aspx [which states in part "To ensure a steady pipeline of future talent into the industry, Rolls-Royce last year opened a new Nuclear Skills Academy in Derby, which will provide 200 apprenticeships each year for at least the next decade."]
They might do well to ensure 40-50 of those 200 interns are Aussies... plus they might want to get on with that that nuclear repository thingy near FBW or in the 'woop woop' near-abouts Karratha if Perthians are feeling too NIMBYish.
PS: With the rule of thirds, even with 8 AUKUS SSNs, 16-20 crews might be needed to ensure optimal use of the fleet.... where will the RAN find so many trained SSN crew?"