Minister for Defence Stephen Smith, Minister for Finance and Deregulation Senator Penny Wong and Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare today announced Australia’s Future Submarine Systems Centre will be based in Adelaide continuing the strong relationship that has been formed between South Australia and the Commonwealth in support of Australia’s maritime sector.
The Systems Centre will be the home of the Future Submarine program. It will be formally established this year and over the next few years will expand to include hundreds of Defence personnel from Navy, the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO), the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and the Australian and international Defence Industry.
The Systems Centre is a similar facility to the one that was established for the Air Warfare Destroyer project. It will undertake a variety of tasks including evaluation of options, design work, program management, engineering, logistics and production planning.
The Government is committed to acquiring 12 new submarines to be assembled in South Australia. This commitment will be reinforced as part of the 2013 Defence White Paper.
The first Systems Centre staff are already working in Adelaide, and are temporarily based at ASC.
The Future Submarine project will be the largest and most complex Defence project ever undertaken by Australia.
It will involve hundreds of companies and thousands of workers.
It will involve Federal and State Governments, Defence, Industry and Universities working together for years to come.
Four options are being considered for the Future Submarine fleet, ranging from military off-the-shelf to a wholly new design.
Defence is undertaking a wide range of studies into these four options before returning to Government for First Pass approval around late 2013/early 2014.
Minister for Defence Stephen Smith and Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare today also welcomed Mr David Gould to his new role in the Department of Defence as General Manager Submarines.
As General Manager Submarines, Mr Gould has been given responsibility for the oversight of the maintenance of the current Collins Class fleet and the Future Submarine Project.
Mr Gould’s appointment was announced in May. He began work in July. Mr Gould works in the DMO and reports to Mr Warren King, Chief Executive Officer of the DMO.
Mr Gould works across Government, Navy and Industry to pull together the remediation and support of our existing submarine fleet and the project to replace our existing Collins Class submarines.
Mr Gould will oversee the implementation of recommendations the Coles Review of submarine sustainment, to improve the availability and reliability of the Collins Class fleet.
Mr Gould brings a wealth of knowledge to his new position. Mr Gould has extensive international experience in large-scale defence projects, including the UK aircraft carrier program, the Type 45 Destroyer and the restructuring of the Astute Class nuclear powered submarine project.
Mr Gould also served as the Chief Operating Officer of Defence Equipment and Support Organisation in the UK Ministry of Defence.
