Over 90 Australian and international companies, research and development and educational institutions have gathered in Darwin to be updated by key Future Submarine Program representatives on the program’s progress to date.
The event is a joint briefing involving the Department of Defence as the customer, and the two prime contractors – Naval Group as the Platform System Integrator (PSI) and Lockheed Martin Australia as the Combat System Integrator (CSI).
“The purpose of today’s briefing is to provide an update on the Future Submarine Program and emphasise that this is a national project and everyone has the opportunity to contribute,’’ Brent Clark, Interim Chief Executive Officer, Naval Group Australia, said.
“To date over 1,753 individuals and 740 companies have attended the nationwide Future Submarine industry briefings which have been held in Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Hobart in partnership with Lockheed Martin Australia and the Department of Defence,’’ Clark said.
With work on the infrastructure to build the submarines commencing in Adelaide from next year, Naval Group is looking for suppliers with expertise in civil works, consultancy, building and engineering.
For the submarine program the company is looking for suppliers with expertise in mechanical and fluid systems, raw materials, software and hardware, production and industrial services.
Lockheed Martin Australia is keen to hear from Australian suppliers to support the design activities for the Future Submarine’s Combat System.
“We are ramping up the design and mobilisation phase of Australia’s Future Submarine Program and are looking to Australian industry to support all facets of our combat system integration work,” Vince Di Pietro, Chief Executive, Lockheed Martin Australia said. “We want to hear from suppliers with design expertise in combat system subsystems, encompassing fields such as systems engineering and design capabilities to support the design of the various subsystems of the combat system.
“Our approach is to maximise Australian industry involvement in the Program without compromising capability, cost, schedule or risk. It is a long-term program which will provide opportunities for innovation and sustainable business growth through the transfer of new technology and capability to Australian industry to build and sustain a sovereign submarine capability.”