Australia will hire 200 people over the next two years to gear up for the allied rotational submarine presence at its western naval base, the Australian Government announced. The boost to the submarine workforce is part of the new Jobs for Subs effort that will hire personnel to work for the government-owned ASC Pty Ltd as maintainers of nuclear-powered submarines, US Naval Institute news reports.
“There will be 200 apprentices trained in highly skilled jobs connected with the operation and maintenance of these nuclear-powered submarines,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on Monday during a press conference at the naval base.
“That presents a real career path as well as the additional people who are working for ASC and working through TAFE who have also been trained here by southwestern TAFE,” he added, referring to Technical and Further Education, which is a vocational school in Australia.
Most of those 200 workers will be located in Western Australia. Albanese said the AUKUS program will yield 3,000 jobs in Western Australia, which is home to the Royal Australian Navy submarine base that will host the rotational submarine force of U.S. and United Kingdom submarines starting in 2027. It’s also where the Virginia-class submarines that the U.S. plans to sell to the Australians in the 2030s, while the country builds its own nuclear-powered submarines, will be based.
“It is important as well that we recognize this is also about labor,” Albanese said. “It is about personnel, the people who operate these nuclear-powered submarines. And that presents an enormous opportunity for jobs here in [Western Australia], as well as in South Australia, but right about the country.”
Speaking at the same press conference, Defense Minister Richard Marles declined to say how much the Jobs for Subs apprenticeship program would cost. In a news release announcing the apprenticeships, the Department of Defense cited an A$8 billion investment in infrastructure ahead of the rotational submarine force based in HMAS Stirling and the planned purchase of the Virginia-class submarines from the U.S.
“These roles, predominantly in Western Australia, span fabrication and machining, engineering and project management, and supply chain and operations qualifications,” according to the news release.
Asked whether the 200 jobs are enough, Albanese said there are other efforts to hire workers, pointing to a nearby TAFE school’s ongoing training and RAN submariners training in the U.S. on operating and maintaining a submarine’s nuclear reactor.
The Australian government’s jobs announcement comes as the U.S. Navy and Royal Australian Navy wrench on Virginia-class submarine USS Hawaii (SSN-776) at Stirling’s Diamantina Pier. The availability is the first time a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine has gone through a maintenance overhaul on foreign soil and with foreign workers. Hawaii has a RAN officer onboard, embedded with the U.S. crew, and RAN sailors have been aboard submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS-39) for the last few months to prepare for the current maintenance availability. Emory S. Land is also at the pier in Stirling.
Australian and U.S. officials have said the maintenance availability is a major milestone for AUKUS. The goal is for Australia to develop an indigenous nuclear-powered submarine shipbuilding and maintenance capability.
RAN officials said Monday that the program is on track. U.S. Adm. William Houston, who leads the nuclear naval reactor program, visited Stirling last week as part of the submarine availability. Houston told reporters during a roundtable last week that he was impressed by the amount of work happening at Stirling to prepare for the presence and maintenance of nuclear-powered boats.
During the same roundtable, RAN Vice Adm. Jonathan Mead, the chief of the nuclear-powered submarine task force, said Stirling looks very different compared to two years ago and cited building refits as one way the base is gearing up for the new rotational force and future nuclear-capability.
“This submarine tender maintenance period with USS Hawaii in the background here is a tangible demonstration of the progress of the optimal pathway,” Mead told reporters on Monday at the pier. “And our ability, particularly with western Australia, to support U.S. and U.K. nuclear-powered submarines being supported here in 2027.”
