MELBOURNE \u2014 A Leidos subsidiary has been selected to design the dry dock for Australia\u2019s future nuclear-powered submarines.<\/p>\n
Leidos Gibbs and Cox, a US-based company with Australian offices, will lead the preliminary design of a contingency dry dock for critical repairs and maintenance on the submarines Australia will operate under AUKUS Pillar 1,<\/a> according to an announcement<\/a> from Australia\u2019s defense department today.<\/p>\n \u201cThis contingency dry dock capability is a critical pre-condition of Australia receiving its first Virginia class submarine and will provide a critical contingency capability for Australia and its partners,\u201d the Australian Department of Defence said in a news release.<\/p>\n The release added that the dry dock \u201cforms part of the Government\u2019s broader investment in Western Australia across HMAS Stirling <\/a>and the Henderson Defence Precinct <\/a>for sovereign shipbuilding,\u201d referring to a naval base and a industrial site that are expanding to support AUKUS.<\/p>\n \u201cThis design work is underpinned by the Albanese Government\u2019s investment of an initial $12 billion [$8.34 billion USD] to deliver the Defence Precinct at Henderson which, alongside the Government\u2019s record investments in AUKUS and shipbuilding, will support 10,000 direct jobs over the next two decades in Western Australia,\u201d the release said.<\/p>\n Under the trilateral AUKUS partnership, the Royal Australian Navy is slated to receive three second-hand Virginia-class conventionally armed, nuclear-powered attack submarines, before transitioning to the AUKUS class submarines that will be operated by the Royal Australian Navy and the UK\u2019s Royal Navy.<\/p>\n