The Australian Government has approved a Strategic Shipbuilding Agreement with Austal that will establish the company as the Commonwealth’s strategic shipbuilder for Tier 2 surface combatants at Henderson, Western Australia, according to an announcement on Monday. Under the agreement, Austal Defence Shipbuilding Australia, a newly created subsidiary, will become prime contractor for the LAND8710 programs…
The federal government has continued a run of announcements of major defence acquisitions, selecting a design by Damen Shipyards Group as the preferred option for the Australian Defence Force’s Landing Craft Heavy vessel (pictured). The announcement is a step in the establishment of a littoral fleet which is expected to create 1,100 direct jobs and…
The federal government will establish a consolidated Commonwealth-owned Defence Precinct at Western Australia’s Henderson shipyard to underpin continuous naval shipbuilding and nuclear submarine maintenance and support in the order of 10,000 well-paid, high-skilled local jobs. The government will make an initial investment of $127 million over three years to progress planning, consultations, preliminary design and…
The Western Australian government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Babcock Australasia to further develop its defence activities as well as workforce training and upskilling in the state. Babcock International sustains the entire UK submarine fleet, and Perth’s HMAS Stirling on Garden Island is the base for the current Collins class fleet, as…
BAE Systems Australia has conducted successful trials at the Osborne Naval Shipyard and Henderson shipyard utilising laser scanning technology to create 3D models of pipes to be installed on the Hunter class frigates now under construction. The weeklong trials, which followed initial testing at the Line Zero – Factory of the Future facility in Adelaide’s…
HMAS Ballarat gets its new mast HMAS Ballarat recently received a brand new mast that will provide its sailors with a new Australian manufactured L-Band high power active phase array radar, and an integrated ‘friend and foe’ capability. The new radar, with CEA Technologies’ CEAFAR and CEAMOUNT phased array radars, are becoming standard on Australian…