Aussie Collins-class subs get $2.2B AUD sustainment pledge

SYDNEY — Australia has made its biggest commitment to the longevity of its Collin-class submarines, pledging at least $2.2 billion AUD ($1.44 billion USD) for the work.

A government statement detailing the deal, released July 27,states that the $2.2 billion is entirely for sustainment as part of a broader “$4 to $5 billion commitment to keeping the Collins-class submarines as a potent strike and deterence capability.” The Defence Ministry has struggled to decide how much work needs to be done on the Collins class to keep it ready until American-built Virginia-class submarines appear sometime in the 2030s.

The Collins boats were originally planned for retirement by 2026, but the AUKUS agreement to get Australia nuclear-powered boats has pushed the need to keep the Collins-class operational longer than expected — potentially opening what became known as a capability gap. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pledged to ensure America plugged any gap.

Given the government’s $4 to $5 billion AUD total for the Collins program, that means that after the $2.2 billion for sustainment is taken out, there is roughly another $1.8 to $2.8 billion AUD left for further life extension efforts. That appears to be considerably less than previously thought because a number of expensive upgrades considered were dropped by the Labor Party government of Anthony Albanese, whose left-of-center party faces an election no later than September 2025.

A previous statement, released in June, noted that the Collins would not be fitted for Tomahawk cruise missiles nor will an optronics electro-optical mast be added.

The four-year contract is with ASC Pty Ltd, (formerly known as Australian Submarine Company.) ASC is a wholly government-owned company created to build the Collins-class. Work on HMAS Farncomb, the first Collins sub to get rebuilt, is scheduled to start in 2026.

Notably, the announcement highlights that this effort will also preserve a workforce able to work on SSN AUKUS, once Australia begins to build its own nuclear-powered boats.

“This new contract further ensures these workers have certainty in Australia’s national naval shipbuilding and sustainment enterprise, and helps to grow the workforce required to build and sustain Australia’s future nuclear-powered submarines,” Sen. Katy Gallagher, the Finance Minister, said in the statement.