By Peter Roberts Defence Minister Richard Marles is comfortable with the possibility of Australia’s most successful locally owned defence manufacturer, Austal, falling to overseas ownership. I, for one, am not. In April Korean defence group Hanwha bid to buy Austal, emerging into the open after months of speculation that the company was a takeover target.…
By Peter Roberts Korean defence group Hanwha has made a bid to buy one of the few Australian-owned defence prime contractors, shipbuilder Austal, and take it into foreign control. The bid was confirmed this morning by the Perth shipbuilder, which has expended from aluminium ferry building to become a major defence shipbuilder in Australia and…
Perth shipbuilder Austal has won a contract for the construction of a 71 metre passenger cargo ferry, which will be built at the company’s Vietnamese shipyard. Austal Vietnam will design and construct the roll-on roll-off vessel for The Degage Group of French Polynesia in a contract valued at between $30-$40 million. The steel monohull design,…
Perth shipbuilder Austal has been awarded a contract extension for the construction of two additional Evolved Cape-class Patrol Boats for the Royal Australian Navy. The $157 million contract follows the procurement announcement made by the Commonwealth of Australia (CoA) on 23 November 2023 and brings the total number of Evolved Cape-class Patrol Boats being delivered…
Perth shipbuilder Austal has been awarded a contract to construct a 32-metre catamaran for Rottnest Fast Ferries, based in Hillarys, Western Australia which will operate to the leisure destination island offshore of Perth. Collaborating with vessel designer Incat Crowther, Austal will begin construction of the aluminium catamaran at the company’s Philippines shipyard in the first…
By Peter Roberts The federal government has moved to secure the future of Austal’s Perth shipbuilding operation and its Henderson yard (pictured) in Western Australia. Defence has entered into a new strategic partnership with Austal which will see 18 of the Army’s new Landing Craft Medium built at Henderson. Austal will also deliver two new…
Western Australian-based Greenroom Robotics Pty Ltd has joined shipbuilder Austal’s Patrol Boat Autonomy Trial, underway for Trusted Autonomous Systems and the Royal Australian Navy. Greenroom Robotics will integrate their Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) control software, known as GAMA, into Sentinel – pictured, a decommissioned Armidale-class Patrol Boat. The integration will allow autonomous navigation, remote pilotage…
Wire arc additive manufacturing business AML3D has announced an order for the largest machine it has built to date, placed by Austal USA through AML3D’s reseller Philips Corporation. According to a statement to the ASX on Monday, the order is valued at about $2.2 million and is for a custom-built unit based on the company’s…
Perth shipbuilder Austal has entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Harland & Wolff Group – the Belfast based builders of the famous Titanic – to pursue shipbuilding opportunities in the United Kingdom. The MOU, signed at the 2023 Indo Pacific Maritime Exposition in Sydney, includes the transfer of technology, skills, and shipyard capabilities required…
Defence contractors Austal, Civmec and Navantia Australia have partnered to offer the navy a proposal to deliver six corvettes, a so-called Tier 2 type vessel to complement larger frigates and destroyers. Designed by Navantia, the Tasman class corvette combines the manoeuvrability of a Tier 2 vessel, with the powerful weaponry of a major surface combatant,…
