Australia kicks off US$39 billion submarine tender

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA: Australia has invited Germany, France and Japan to pitch for a contract to build its new submarine fleet, kicking off a contentious A$ 50 billion ( US$ 38.8 billion) project which has become a political football at home.Signs of progress on the long- delayed project bode ill for Sweden despite a proposal from Australia’s opposition party to overturn the Nordic country’s earlier exclusion from the lucrative tender.

Speaking at a conference of Australian naval officials and politicians in Adelaide on Wednesday, Defence Minister Kevin Andrews said Germany, France and Japan had emerged as potential ‘international partners’ for the project to replace Australia’s six ageing Collins- class vessels.

Andrews added that a ‘competitive evaluation’ would take at least 10 months, after which the Defence Department would advise the government on preferred bidders.

An industry source in Australia said a letter had been prepared for bidders containing requirements including that a concept design be submitted within six months and details on how bidders would involve Australian industry in the programme.

Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) and France’s state- controlled naval contractor DCNS have both expressed interest in the tender and said they would build in Australia.

“We’ve already got the draft contract. We’ve got the statement of work,” Philip Stanford, the chief executive of TKMS Australia told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the Future Submarine Summit.

“We’ve got all of the data descriptions which tell us what we need to do and they’ve sent us through classified channels the functional performance specifications ... It literally is happening as we speak.” — Reuters