Defence is supporting critical maritime capabilities for the Royal Australian Navy by investing $163 million in a new seven-year contract with BAE Systems Australia.

The contract will support more than 80 defence industry jobs across Australia and forms part of the Government’s $150 billion investment in delivering a secure, sustainable and continuous naval shipbuilding and sustainment capability.

BAE Systems Australia will be responsible for providing through-life engineering and design to support Navy’s Anzac-class vessels. 

It will work with small-to-medium service providers, including sustainment partner BMT, and will be a single point of contact for Anzac-class engineering work to flow across a broader industrial base.

This contract provides long-term certainty of work, allowing defence industry to invest and grow its businesses, providing greater depth, and regional capacity and capability.

Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Mark Hammond said this contract would assure the ongoing sustainment of the Anzac-class fleet. 

“The Anzac-class are the longest-serving surface combatants in the current Australian fleet. For the last 30 years they have deployed around the world and are the backbone of Navy’s fleet,” he said.

“Assured availability and performance of the Anzac-class fleet is essential while the Navy transitions to a larger more lethal fleet of surface combatants.”

Deputy Secretary of National Shipbuilding and Sustainment Group David Hanley said the Designer Support Contractor was a key element of Defence’s national approach to sustaining Navy’s surface fleet. 

“This agreement with BAE Systems Australia is a key building block in Defence’s new maritime sustainment approach that ensures the Anzac-class remains safe, capable and available,” Mr Hanley said.

“By locking in robust design support with BAE, we are underpinning fleet readiness while setting conditions for a seamless transition to our regional maintenance arrangements.”