The project will pick up pace gradually, as initial investment is A$127 million (€78.3 million) over the coming three years “to progress planning, consultations, preliminary design and feasibility studies, as well as enabling works for the defence precinct at Henderson”.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, “Henderson already plays a critical role in the delivery and sustainment of Australian Defence Force capabilities, and this will see the important role of WA [Western Australia] industry grow further.”
The government promised “tens of billions of dollars” of investment in Western Australian defence infrastructure, but Andrew Hastie, the opposition shadow minister for defence, was critical. He said A$127 million showed “no real commitment to making this a reality”. He added, “The Albanese government is already kicking these important works into the long grass, with ‘delivery of initiatives’ not set to commence for another nine months.”
While Hastie was concerned the government was not spending enough, questions arise over where sustained funding will come from. The Royal Australian Navy’s future fleet of SSNs and infrastructure will gobble up a predicted A$53-63 billion (€32.7-38.9 billion) over the next decade. As Australia’s single defence acquisition ever, the submarines will consume approximately 0.15% of national GDP over the programme’s life.
Money spent on the submarines and their supporting ecosystem is money that cannot be spent elsewhere. Already, naval programmes such as two joint support ships and mine countermeasure vessels have been dropped, whilst the army’s plans for hundreds of AS21 Redback infantry fighting vehicles were curtailed.
The last dry dock the Australian military built was in Sydney during World War II, and this 347m-long facility is currently being refurbished. The twin issues of cost and time for the new Henderson facility are pertinent. Yes, Australia has pledged initial seed money, but the whole facility, and the dry dock itself, are hugely expensive.
Of interest, in February the US Navy (USN) started building a new US$3.4 billion dry dock in Pearl Harbor, the most expensive building project in the navy’s history. It will require more than 190,000m³ of concrete and 63,000 tons of steel. This Hawaiian facility able to accommodate Virginia-class SSNs will take four years to build.
Two years ago the USN also started using its modernised US$1.7 billion dry dock complex in Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine. It was cheaper than the Hawaiian one, because of the complexity of building in isolated Hawaii. Nonetheless, these American examples hint at the kind of costs such a Western Australian dry dock will impose. It will take years to build, but in the interim it could lease a floating dock.
Canberra claimed the precinct will support around 10,000 jobs – around 3,000 for submarine depot-level maintenance, 1,000 in construction, 2,300 across landing craft and frigate shipbuilding, and 3,500 at nearby HMAS Stirling. Indeed, where these skilled workers will magically appear from is another critical issue. Release of the 2024 Naval Shipbuilding and Sustainment Plan, which will discuss issues such as the workforce, is still awaited.
The new infrastructure will be constructed at the southern end of the Henderson shipyard, where Austal, BAE Systems Australia, ASC and Luerssen Australia currently have adjacent facilities.
An official graphic of the planned expansion showed a contingency dock sited alongside a pier, the former able to accommodate an SSN for unscheduled or unplanned maintenance or repairs.
Farther north, there is a waterfront facility featuring a production hall and offices. The artist’s impression shows this building flanked by two dry docks that can each accommodate a submarine for longer maintenance periods. North of this a floating dock is pictured. While this is obviously only a preliminary design, it does indicate intentions.
The ability to host contingency docking and depot-level maintenance for nuclear-powered submarines is important as Australia continues along the AUKUS pathway towards owning and operating its own SSN fleet.
The government had already committed A$8 billion (€4.9 billion) to expand the nearby HMAS Stirling naval base out till the mid-2030s, which sits on a peninsula facing the Henderson precinct. This base will start hosting rotational American and British SSNs from 2027. Submarine Rotational Force – West will host up to one Royal Navy Astute-class and four USN Virginia-class SSNs.
This government announcement sets the ball rolling, answering criticisms of a lack of urgency. Rear Admiral Wendy Malcolm, who is overseeing AUKUS infrastructure preparations, warned at the Indian Ocean Defence and Security Conference in July that Australia needs to move quickly to set up submarine infrastructure such as a dry dock.
“So we’ve got to get going on approvals and planning and access and how we’re going to do this. We can’t solve everything just yet, but we already know there are certain decisions we need right now.”
Rear Admiral Wendy Malcolm
The Henderson shipyard is certainly set to boom. Alongside these proposed new submarine facilities, the Integrated Investment Program 2024 released in April stated: “Consolidation of the Henderson precinct in Western Australia is being achieved through the delivery of landing craft medium and landing craft heavy. This consolidation will set the conditions for eight new general-purpose frigates to be built at Henderson and provide a pathway to build six new Large Optionally Crewed Surface Vessels in Western Australia in the 2030s.”
