Australia’s sovereign submarine capability was today strengthened with the opening of an innovative major upgrade to ASC’s Western Australian submarine maintenance facility.

The upgrade is part of ASC’s continuous improvement of the maintenance of Australia’s Collins Class submarine fleet, as part of the Submarine Enterprise, which has achieved international benchmark performance this year

The $12.5 million redevelopment will improve productivity and reliability through a maintenance support tower, sky bridge and new amenities and office areas, significantly cutting the time workers spend accessing a submarine under maintenance.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann and Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne jointly opened the redevelopment at ASC West, in Henderson, at a ceremony attended by ASC management and personnel, senior Defence Department, Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and defence industry leaders.

“This major redevelopment at ASC’s Western Australian facility lays a solid foundation for ASC’s future as a key sovereign asset delivering Australia’s submarine capability,” said ASC Interim Chief Executive Officer Stuart Whiley.

“It is an exciting development that comes at a time of significant investment and commitment to growing Australia’s future submarine capability by the Federal Government. ASC looks forward to being a key part of delivering that capability growth.”

The redevelopment comes after ASC and the Defence Department agreed a further five year performance period for the sustainment of the Collins Class submarine fleet, which commenced on 1 July this year.

The awarding of the next performance period of the In Service Support Contract (ISSC) came after the Submarine Enterprise achieved international benchmark submarine maintenance performance this year.

ASC has committed to go “beyond benchmark” with its partners in the Submarine Enterprise, made up of the Defence Department, RAN, ASC and Raytheon Australia (combat system).