From Wedgetail and JSF to soldier pay, the meeting covered many projects and issues but it was an update on the Collins that took our attention.
As always when dealing with Collins, there's good news and bad news.
"In respect of the generators on Farncomb, the original estimate was that it would take in the order of 23 weeks to undertake the repair of the generators," Kim Gillis, the Collins program manager, said.
"Just due to the physical dimensions, the requirement to get them in and out
was a very big task.
"The Submarine Program Office - a combination of ASC, the Navy and the DMO - have worked collaboratively to produce a much better system of getting them in and out.
"We have worked with a company called Hofmann Engineering in Western Australia who are specialists in confined-space engineering.
"Hofmann undertook the challenge to have them removed, repaired and put back in a period of approximately 57 days.
"They are currently on track.
"The first of the generators will actually go back into Farncomb today [March 30, 2010] and will then go through a process.
"We are very pleased with the work that has been undertaken to date.
"It has been an excellent example of the cooperation between the whole team, as well as of getting the best of breed within Australian engineering to help us get these Collins class submarines back into operations."
But when asked about the chance of future failures of the generators, the outlook was not so rosy.
"As to the generators that are on Collins, the original ones were actually manufactured in France," Gillis said.
"The inspections on those would indicate that they are very solid and we are not expecting to have a failure on those.
"The remainder of the Collins class submarines that had their generators manufactured in Australia are susceptible to this particular failure.
"We are monitoring those.
"We are looking at the way in which we can ensure that we do not get the same sort of failure.
"We do have three generators on each submarine."
This, however, did not impress the committee chair, Labor MP Arch Bevis, who questioned if compensation from ASC or any other source would be forthcoming; Gillis thought that was ‘unlikely'.
"I just make the observation that, if we are in the business of handing out money to Australian or American businesses or anybody else in the development of things, we should sure as hell be in the business of making sure what they provide has been delivered properly and in accordance with the contract."