Papers & Documents
Browse papers, documents and brochures published by Gibbs & Cox Australia – experts in naval vessel design and production engineering.
Sovereign Design Capability Paper
Developing Australia's Independent Surface Combatant Design Capability – Challenges and Options
The Government’s 2017 Naval Shipbuilding Plan indicates that over the next decade or more, Australia intends to develop significant new naval industrial capabilities. In particular, the plan states a policy requirement for… “future Australian Governments being able to plan and execute: the design, construction and sustainment of future fleets of major surface combatants … in Australia.” This objective has subsequently been emphasised through various ministerial statements.
Nations that maintain a warship design capability do so for strategic national security and military-economic reasons. The ability to design a competitive warship takes multiple decades to develop and must be proactively managed. A variety of measures and significant investments in skilling and technology are necessary to achieve a credible capability.
In the context of this policy objective, this paper addresses some important questions relating to how the RAN will be supported in its exploration of the future of the Australian surface combatant fleet.
