The Minister for Defence Stephen Smith and the Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare today announced the allocation of construction work for the third ship of the $8 billion Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) Project.
The allocation of block construction work for ship three is as follows:
• Forgacs (Newcastle) – 15 blocks;
• ASC (Adelaide) – eight blocks;
• Navantia (Spain) – five blocks; and
• BAE Systems (Melbourne) – two blocks.
This means the four shipyards will construct the same blocks for ship three that they are constructing for ship two. The construction arrangements for block structure and block pre-outfit are:
• Ship 1: BAE Systems 7, Forgacs 14, ASC 9
• Ship 2: BAE Systems 2, Forgacs 15, ASC 8, Navantia 5
• Ship 3: BAE Systems 2, Forgacs 15, ASC 8, Navantia 5
Getting the same shipyards to build the same blocks for ships two and three will enable the AWD Project to take advantage of lessons the shipyards have learnt and the experience they have gained from building the same blocks.
The AWD project involves the construction of 90 separate steel blocks being built at four shipyards in Adelaide (ASC), Melbourne (BAE Systems), Newcastle (Forgacs) and Spain (Navantia) as well as the three sonar block assemblies being built in Spain and the United Kingdom.
In May last year the Government announced the reallocation of 18 blocks for AWD Ships one and two. Thirteen blocks were divided between Forgacs, ASC and BAE with five allocated to Navantia.
The reallocation of work for ship three means that overall division of block construction across the project is:
• Forgacs – 44 blocks;
• ASC – 25 blocks;
• BAE Systems – 11 blocks; and
• Navantia – 10 blocks.