The Australian government is heralding an investment of $2.75 billion to start building a new submarine construction yard in Osborne, South Australia.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government expects the overall submarine program will create almost 10,000 jobs in the region and project investments reaching upwards of $21 billion total over the next decades to build the new shipyard, according to a Feb. 15 announcement,
Beyond the shipyard workforce itself, the government said its investment will create at least 4,000 jobs for designing and building the submarine shipyard in addition to 5,500 workers that will support submarine production at its peak.
The government detailed that the new shipyard’s total floor area will be 10 times larger than the current Osborne South Development project and a fabrication hall that will be 1,378 feet long. Construction will involve 66 million man hours and 126,000 metric tons of structural steel.
The Osborne yard will consist of areas for fabrication, outfitting, consolidation, test launching and commissioning.
Under the AUKUS agreement with the U.S. and United Kingdom, Australia plans to deliver its first domestically produced nuclear-powered attack submarine, SSN-AUKUS, in the early 2040s, following the UK delivering its own boat of the same design in the late 2030s. The U.S. plans to sell Australia three to five Virginia-class attack submarines in the 2030s to both bridge the submarine force as it starts to retire the conventionally-powered Collins class boats in the 2030s and confirm the sailors and maintainers are ready to operate their own SSN fleet starting in the 2040s.
Enabling works at the site are expected to cost about $1.4 billion while finishing a Skills and Training Academy (STA) will cost $352.5 million. The STA will train up the workforce that ultimately builds the SSN-AUKUS boats. Work on the STA campus began last year and the first students are planned to be inducted in 2028 to help ensure a solid pipeline of workers for SSN production. The STA campus is designed to support up to 1,000 learners per year.
“South Australia is at the centre of one of the most significant defence undertakings in our history. Osborne will be critical to Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine program under AUKUS, while supporting continuous naval shipbuilding and sustainment. From construction of the submarine yard to delivery of critical infrastructure and the development of a skilled workforce, progress is accelerating,” Richard Marles, deputy prime minister and minister for defense, said in a statement.
Peter Malinauskas, premier of South Australia, added that the $21 billion to build the shipyard does not include the “many billions more invested in the incredibly complex task of building nuclear-powered submarines, which will in itself provide for thousands of highly skilled, well-paid jobs for decades.”
Last November, an Australian government official confirmed they are on track to start building SSN-AUKUS boats at the Osborne Shipyard by the end of the decade and on track to deliver the infrastructure and workforce needed to support and sustain their future SSN capability.
Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily first published a version of this story.