Two offshore patrol boats being built by ASC at Adelaide's Osborne yards to bridge gap until work on frigates

The two Royal Australian Navy offshore patrol boats being built at Adelaide's Osborne involve high-tech jobs.
Image courtesy Royal Australian Navy

Adelaide-based ASC won the contract to build the first two of the fleet of Royal Australian Navy offshore patrol vessels, starting in 2018, at Australia’s world-class Osborne Naval shipbuilding precinct, in Adelaide.

Work on the offshore patrol vessels was important in keeping continuous naval shipbuilding at Osborne after ASC confronted a “valley of death” gap after the end of ASC’s work on the three Hobart class air warfare destroyers at Hobart that employed 2000.

The offshore patrol vessels employed more than 400 jobs plus supply chain opportunities for South Australian business. Adelaide-based Saab Australia was selected to provide the combat management on the offshore patrol vessels, creating hundreds of high-tech defence jobs.

State-of-the-art sensors as well as command and communication systems will allow the patrol boats to operate alongside Australian Border Force vessels, Australian Defence Force units and other regional partners. Their design will support specialist mission packages, such as a maritime tactical unmanned aerial system and into the future, rapid environmental assessment and a deployable mine counter measure.

ASC is also involved in maintaining and upgrading (at Osborne and in Western Australia) the six Collins class submarines it built (1990-2003) as the Australian Submarine Corporation, at Osborne. But it was still forced to sheds hundreds of jobs at the end of air warfare destroyers project.

Its contract to build the two offshore patrol vessels (another 10 will be constructed in Western Australia) was meant to keep a core of skilled workers at Osborne until ASC Shipbuilding, as a subsidiary of BAE Systems, will be engaged from 2020 in building nine Hunter Class frigates for the Royal Australian Navy.