Ausralia’s Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science this week finalized discussions with U.S. industry on Australia’s Future Submarine project that will replace the Collins class submarines.

“The United States is a leader in the design and development of submarine technology, and I expect that Australia will look to learn from companies like General Dynamics Electric Boat and Lockheed Martin in designing and developing the Collins class replacement,” Combet said. “The Future Submarine will be Australia’s largest ever Defence acquisition and the Rudd government is committed to ensuring that Australia obtains a world leading submarine capability. U.S. technology is likely to be an important facilitator of this capability.

“Electric Boat designs and shares the build of the Virginia class submarines for the US Navy and has been instrumental in driving down production costs to enable the U.S. to increase the production rate of these submarines.

Lockheed Martin is a major supplier in the U.S. Navy submarine combat system, the Collins Replacement Combat System supplies submarine combat systems or components to Spain and the United Kingdom.”

Combet welcomed U.S. industry interest in supporting Australia’s submarine project.