Australian team arrives at PHNSY for AUKUS training

Twenty-eight ASC personnel pose for a photo at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PHNSY & IMF), Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. [Photo: NAVSEA]

There are a lot of moving parts involved in building a sovereign Australian nuclear submarine capability and 28 personnel from Australian shipbuilder ASC are now at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PHNSY & IMF). The team arrived under the Australia, United Kingdom and United States (AUKUS) enhanced trilateral security partnership. They will be trained and certified on various aspects of submarine maintenance to support the AUKUS Pillar 1 program that is supporting Australia’s acquisition of sovereign conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines.

PHNSY & IMF is a field activity of NAVSEA and a one-stop regional maintenance center for the Navy’s surface ships and submarines. The most comprehensive fleet repair and maintenance facility between the U.S. West Coast and the Far East, strategically located in the heart of the Pacific, being about a week’s steaming time closer to potential regional contingencies in the Indo-Pacific.

“After months of preparation, we are excited to welcome the Australian maintainers into our shipyard family. The intensive training process they will undergo over the next few years will lay the groundwork for them to ultimately lead and execute their own maintenance operations,” said Capt. Ryan McCrillis, commanding officer of PHNSY & IMF.

In July 2023, PHNSY & IMF was chosen as the Naval Supervising Authority and Lead Maintenance Activity for Submarine Rotational Force – West (SRF-W) located at the HMAS Stirling naval base in Western Australia. SRF-W will host up to four U.S. Virginia-class submarines and one U.K. Astute-class submarine, starting as early as 2027. Routine intermediate maintenance work, which does not require dry-docking the submarines and takes weeks – rather than months or years – to complete, will be planned and executed by ASC’s trained workforce and certified by PHNSY & IMF personnel.

“Conducting joint training and working side-by-side with our Australian colleagues is critical to building the essential knowledge needed to fully support SRF-W,” McCrillis said. “This training evolution, which focuses on technical maintenance skills, strengthens our own readiness, ensuring warfighters are equipped to carry out their complex mission.”

The first cohort of ASC personnel will receive a mix of classroom instruction and hands-on experience covering radiological controls, nuclear engineering, non-nuclear engineering and quality assurance. The training durations will vary based on the specific trades and disciplines being taught. Once they complete their training, the ASC personnel will return to Australia appropriately qualified and skilled to conduct Virginia-class maintenance, under U.S. supervision, during routine U.S. submarine port visits to HMAS Stirling.

Australia and the United States expect more than 100 ASC personnel to start training at PHNSY & IMF over the next twelve months.

“We are ushering in a new era for our submarine maintenance workforce,” said Rear Adm. Matt Buckley, Head of Nuclear Submarine Capability within the Australian Submarine Agency. “By leveraging the U.S. and UK’s decades-long expertise, we are learning from the best to develop our own world-class sovereign nuclear-powered, conventionally armed submarine force. The 28 ASC personnel, combined with more than thirty Royal Australian Navy personnel who joined the crew of U.S. submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS 39) this year, represent the cornerstone of our future submarine force maintenance workforce.”

“The AUKUS partners share a commitment stretching back over a century to preserving democracy and maintaining an international rules-based order,” said Rear Adm. Lincoln Reifsteck, program manager, AUKUS Integration and Acquisition Office. “Thanks to bipartisan Congressional support last year to pass legislation allowing us to train Australian maintenance personnel in our public shipyards, we continue to make progress toward establishing Australia’s sovereign, conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarine force in support of our shared vision of a free, open, and stable Indo-Pacific.”

PHNSY & IMF is also hiring additional personnel to support training hundreds of Australian maintainers.

“The shipyard is growing, so we will continue to hire to meet the needs of our fleet while adding additional personnel to support the increased training demand,” said McCrillis. “Our efforts will not only support Australia’s goal to build a sovereign SSN capability, but also provide real benefits to the U.S. Navy mission in the Indo-Pacific.”