Naval Group signed future submarine SPA with Australia.

A significant milestone has been achieved today with the signing of the Future Submarine Program Strategic Partnering Agreement (SPA) by the Commonwealth of Australia (CoA) and Naval Group.

Members of the Future Submarine Program Strategic Partnering Agreement after the signature (Picture source : Naval Group)

The agreement was signed in the presence of Prime Minister Scott Morrison, The Hon. Christopher Pyne, Minister for Defence and Florence Parly, French Minister for the Armed Forces.

The agreement sets out the principles of cooperation between the two partners for the Attack class Submarine Program which will see the delivery of 12 regionally superior submarines to Australia with leading edge capabilities ; the delivery of new technologies and advanced manufacturing capabilities to Australia, introducing the next phase of Australian sovereignty as a submarine nation ; the creation of thousands of direct and indirect Australian jobs which will positively impact many generations of Australians ; and opportunities and long-term planning certainty for industry, allowing Australian companies involved in the submarine program to invest in the capabilities needed to support their involvement in construction and sustainment activities.

“Naval Group is known for building world-leading, technologically advanced submarines and has built 100 of them for nine different countries,” said Herve Guillou, Chairman and CEO, Naval Group.

“This agreement with Australia will see Naval Group transfer the “know-how” and “know-why” to Australia to become an sovereign submarine nation.

“We are very excited about the opportunities that lay ahead of us and are committed to delivering the Future Submarine Program for Australia.

“We are grateful to the teams from the Commonwealth of Australia and Naval Group who have worked hard to achieve this agreement,” said Mr Guillou.

Since being selected as Australia’s partner for the Attack class Submarine Program in April 2016, a lot has been achieved. Program milestones include pre-sizing of the Future Submarine has been completed, feasibility study phase of the Future Submarine design contract being undertaken in France with the support of Australian engineers has been completed. This involves working closely with the Commonwealth to ensure the Future Submarine meets functionality, scheduling and cost requirements.

First sod has also been turned at the Future Submarine construction yard in Adelaide. Phase 1 of the onsite works will focus on site establishment, earth works and piling for the new facilities with the development to create at least 600 jobs. The transfer of technology commenced with the relocation of the first group of Australian engineers to France to learn how to carry out the detailed design of the Future Submarines. The next group of engineers will depart for France in March 2019.

Regarding the industry milestones, Naval Group is to continue to maximise the opportunities for Australian Industry involvement in the program, through all phases, without compromising the Commonwealths requirements against capability, cost and schedule. To date Naval Group has engaged with over 1,100 Australian suppliers through expression of interests, requests for information, supplier visits and industry events to develop a in depth understanding of Australia Industry capability. 169 Australian suppliers have been pre-qualified for the program with Naval Group Australia.

As for the Naval Group Australia milestones, we can notice that they established their headquarters in Keswick, Adelaide, they expanded the Naval Group Australia team from 15 employees to over 100. By 2028-2029, when production is in full swing, we expect to employ 1,600 people. And they successfully became ISO 9001 certified.