Subs going Down Under

A 2021 agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States should reap benefits in Hampton Roads soon.

Dubbed AUKUS for the three participating nations, the international agreement calls for the U.S. and the U.K. to share nuclear propulsion technology with Australia, with the Royal Australian Navy set to acquire at least eight nuclear-powered submarines, including three to five Virginia-class submarines in the 2030s.

That means more business for Newport News-based Huntington Ingalls Industries, the Fortune 500 shipbuilder and parent company of Newport News Shipbuilding, as well as the prospect of Australian shipbuilders setting up shop in Virginia.

“AUKUS is a defense-focused alliance to promote economic prosperity and regional stability in the Indo-Pacific with Australia, which has always been one of our best allies, and the U.K., which has historic ties to Australia,” explains U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia. “Its goal is to develop joint capacity so we can promote stability and defer aggression by China or anyone else who wants to create trouble in the region.”

Kaine, who serves on the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, was instrumental in passing provisions to implement and strengthen the agreement, which he says will create jobs in Virginia over the next decade.

AUKUS has two pillars, the first laying out a roadmap for Australia to develop the capacity to operate, build and maintain nuclear subs over the next 30 years. As a signatory to the international Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Australia currently does not have a well-developed nuclear industry, but the U.S. and the U.K. have shared nuclear propulsion technology for more than 60 years and now share that information with Australia under the new agreement.

Nuclear-powered submarines, being quiet, faster and less detectable, are highly preferred to diesel-powered subs, Kaine says.

The second pillar of AUKUS is more of a carte blanche for collaboration among the three nations in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, hypersonic capabilities and aerospace investments, and that in particular excites Kaine.

“I think there are going to be a lot of opportunities for Virginia companies and universities on this more open-ended ‘pillar two’ side,” he says. “We have a lot of innovators in Virginia. I think there’s a role for Virginia companies that have space assets. There will be a lot of opportunities to innovate in some of these areas like cyber and AI, and there’s going to be some great opportunities for Virginia businesses in that as well.”

What’s happening now

With decades of nuclear shipbuilding experience, HII is already collaborating with leading defense companies in the U.K. to support AUKUS and has engaged with more than 200 Australian companies hoping to qualify to become HII suppliers, according to Michael Lempke, who heads HII’s Australia business efforts.

While the greater goals of AUKUS are defense-oriented, the agreement is “an unprecedented opportunity for the integration and expansion of industrial capacity” across the three nations, explains Lempke. “We are well-positioned to leverage our longstanding expertise in nuclear shipbuilding, workforce development, supply chain analytics, industrial maintenance and sustainment, and other related defense technologies to support our trilateral partners.”

Quality Maritime Surveyors (QMS), based in the suburbs of Adelaide, Australia, is one of the pioneering companies to take the plunge into Virginia’s waters. The company, run by CEO Crystal Kennedy and her husband, Director Shaun Kennedy, specializes in nondestructive testing and inspection of materials used in marine vessels, typically metals.

In mid-April, QMS announced it would start a training school for Australian shipbuilders in Norfolk temporarily, with plans to find a permanent facility in Newport News, so Australian students can learn from Hampton Roads experts. Although the Kennedys opened a U.S. head office in Thomasville, Georgia, in February, this is their first venture in Virginia.

“We put about 10,000 miles on the car in the little bit of time we were here, visiting potential partners and locations,” Crystal Kennedy says. “There were many places chasing us to lay our heads there, but Virginia really, really shone bright for us, especially Hampton Roads with its naval center of excellence.”

AUKUS’ success hinges on preparing a skilled workforce capable of supporting Australia’s long road to sovereign nuclear-powered submarines, Lempke notes, and HII is already partnering with several academic institutions in Australia toward that objective.

QMS is also part of this larger international effort, Crystal Kennedy says, and she hopes the Newport News facility, where hundreds of Australian technicians will be trained each year, will be open and operating by the end of the year.

“As of right now, America has different standards from Australia and the U.K., so we need to train people in all the procedures and requirements as we start to share information and [are] able to test any components in the whole of the trilateral agreement,” she says. “So, there won’t be any sending back parts or not being able to fulfill needs in the supply chain because the technicians coming out of our training facility will already have that knowledge.”  

This story has been updated since publication.