Following a recommendation from the Department of Defence (DOD), Collins-class submarine sustainment has been listed as a Product of Concern to enable enhanced ministerial oversight of this critical capability.
The Collins-class sustainment program has experienced challenges in recent years. With the submarines required to operate beyond their original design life, increased sustainment requirements need to be met to ensure the class remains effective until it is withdrawn from service.
The DOD will now develop a remediation plan as a priority, to allow a Product of Concern Summit to be held in early 2025.
DOD said the government is committed to investing in priority capability enhancements and fleet sustainment for the Collins-class to ensure it remains a potent and credible capability to conduct operations to safeguard Australia’s maritime approaches and sea lines of communication.
This includes a AU$4 billion to AU$5 billion commitment over the next decade to extend the life of the Collins-class and ensure there is no capability gap until Australia transitions to its future conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines.
Under the former Coalition Government, an efficiency dividend of approximately $120 million was applied as part of the Collins-class In-Service Support Contract signed in 2020. This cut directly affected the level of sustainment support provided to the Collins-class submarines.
In June this year, Defence signed a new four-year sustainment contract with ASC valued at $2.2 billion, without a detrimental efficiency dividend.
Collins-class submarine sustainment has previously been a Product of Concern spanning successive governments, from November 2008 until October 2017.