Australia’s Future Submarine Program briefing comes to Brisbane
Over 160 Australian companies, research and development and educational institutions will gather in Brisbane today to be updated by key Future Submarine Program (FSP) representatives on the program’s progress to date, future development plans and potential engagement opportunities.
The event is a joint briefing involving the Department of Defence as the customer, and the two prime contractors – DCNS, as the Platform System Integrator (PSI), and Lockheed Martin Australia, as the Combat System Integrator (CSI).
DCNS and Lockheed Martin Australia are committed to building all twelve submarines in Adelaide and ensuring Australia has a long-term sovereign capability to sustain them.
In Queensland (DCNS figures):
46 requests for information have been sent to 14 companies;
12 companies have completed the DCNS supplier pre-qualification questionnaire; and
6 companies have already undergone questionnaire validation audits, which is the next step in the process of becoming eligible for the DCNS supply chain.
“The purpose of today’s briefing is to provide an update on the future submarine program and how we want to maximise Australian involvement for example, through technology transfer and collaboration,” said Brent Clark, Chief Executive Officer, DCNS Australia. “I think it is important for Australian industry to understand that this is a national project and everyone has the opportunity to contribute. Attending these joint briefings with the Department of Defence and Lockheed Martin is the best way to learn about the opportunities this program has to offer,” said Mr Clark.
Lockheed Martin Australia is keen to hear from Queensland industry suppliers, to support their plan to team with Australian companies to provide the engineering capacity needed to support the program.
“To date, we have a number of Queensland suppliers registered with us for the Future Submarine Program and we are keen to hear from industry across a range of fields including systems integration, cyber security and hardware engineering,” said Vince Di Pietro, Chief Executive Lockheed Martin Australia.
“Our approach to supporting sustainable industry development is to invest and grow the capabilities of our local supplier partners to support our global supply chains, providing opportunities for technology transfer, innovation, local skilled jobs and sustainable business growth.”
The Future Submarine industry briefings will continue around the nation in 2017, with the next briefing scheduled for 7 June 2017 in Perth. Further briefings will follow in Hobart and Darwin.
