The first of 129 skilled workers from Adelaide-based ASC, including nuclear shift test engineer, Peter Courtis will leave for Pearl Harbor on Saturday to work on US nuclear-powered submarines in the first AUKUS training program of its type.
According to Adelaide Now, four engineers and nuclear experts met on Friday with Defence Minister Richard Marles and Premier Peter Malinauskas, ahead of United States training placements lasting between 18 and 46 months.
They are among the first 30 ASC employees to be sent to Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii, where they will receive direct training in the repair of Virginia Class nuclear-powered submarines alongside their US counterparts.
“These highly skilled workers already have decades of combined submarine experience, having sustained our Collins Class submarines, and now have the opportunity to be upskilled by our US counterparts in sustaining nuclear-powered submarines.” Nuclear health technician, Gary Cluse said.
“We’ll obviously be the first cohort from a knowledge base outside of Australia and we’ll come back to Australia and bring that knowledge with us to build the sustainability for our defence.”
By January, 129 ASC workers would be at Pearl Harbor for naval propulsion training. This will be a combination of classroom and on-the-job instruction. They will return to crucial responsibilities in WA, directing the maintenance of US and UK nuclear-powered submarines at the Garden Island naval facility near Perth as early as 2027.
In addition, the ASC workers will return as leaders to pass on their skills and train other workers at ASC, formerly the Australian Submarine Corporation.
Source: Adelaide Now