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Australia most hold onto Austal and its American subsidiary as critical national re-industrialisation capability, according to former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd.
Rudd made the comments in a 10 September address to the National Press Club of Australia, titled “Navigating Australia’s future in an uncertain world”.
Austal is reportedly now facing offers from South Korean defence giant Hanwha Group and a newcomer syndicate led by Wildcat Infrastructure LLC to purchase Austal USA from Austal Limited.
“AUKUS Pillar 2 offers Australia’s defence industry virtually untrammelled opportunities to collaborate with American firms and access the massive scaling opportunities of the US defence market. Minister Conroy’s Defence Industry Development Strategy lays out in crystal-clear terms Australia’s defence industrial base needs for the future,” former PM Rudd said.
“It’s a great strategy. Responsibility now lies with the Defence Delivery Agency for its implementation.
“For that reason, for example, Austal and its American subsidiary in Mobile, Alabama – which is now America’s fourth-largest shipbuilder – must remain in Australian hands.
“Austal America is the most profitable part of the Australian company. And it integrates Australia with next-generation American shipbuilding.
“Austal, ASC and others will be essential to the wider re-industrialisation of Australia.”
In addition, earlier this week, Kongsberg Maritime confirmed it has entered into an agreement with Austal Defence Shipbuilding Australia (Austal Defence Australia) to supply Kamewa Steel Series waterjets for the Australian Army’s new Landing Craft Medium fleet.
Under the agreement, Kongsberg Maritime will provide four Kamewa Steel Series waterjets for each vessel in the new class of landing craft to be delivered by Austal Defence Australia, a subsidiary of Austal Ltd (Austal). The program comprises 18 Landing Craft Medium vessels, which will be constructed at Austal’s shipyards in Western Australia.
The Landing Craft Medium vessels are the first vessel class designed and constructed by Austal for the Australian Army under the Australian government’s Strategic Shipbuilding Agreement. The steel-hulled craft will be capable of transporting payloads of up to 80 tonnes.
The agreement further strengthens the longstanding relationship between Kongsberg Maritime and Austal, which has selected Kamewa waterjet propulsion systems for numerous naval and commercial vessel programs over many years.
Magnus Fahlén, senior vice-president waterjet system at Kongsberg Marine, said he was delighted to see the longstanding collaboration between Kongsberg Maritime and Austal extended to a new customer in the Australian Army.
“Austal has been a valued customer for Kamewa waterjets for many years across both naval and commercial vessel projects, worldwide. This latest agreement reflects the confidence Austal Defence Australia places in our technology and our ability to deliver robust, high-performance propulsion solutions for demanding operational environments. We look forward to supporting the successful delivery of the Landing Craft Medium fleet and contributing to a capability that will serve the Australian Army for decades to come.”
Tim Speer, chief engineer at Austal Defence Australia, said Kongsberg Maritime has supported the pre-contract LCM design activity with cavitation tunnel testing in their Hydrodynamic Research Centre.
“Kongsberg Maritime’s support was invaluable during the design phase, specifically ensuring that the propulsion system performance would be well understood and de-risked”, Speer said.
Kongsberg Maritime’s Kamewa Steel Series waterjets are designed for demanding high-performance applications, combining efficiency, manoeuvrability and reliability for naval, governmental and commercial vessels worldwide.
Delivery of the waterjet systems will be aligned with Austal Defence Australia’s vessel construction schedule.
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