The Australian Submarine Agency (ASA), formerly the Nuclear-Powered Submarine Task Force (NPSTF) is the federal

statutory agency A statutory body or statutory authority is a body set up by law (statute) that is authorised to implement certain legislation on behalf of the relevant country or state, sometimes by being empowered or delegated to set rules (for example reg ...

of the Australian Government responsible for the management and oversight of Australia's nuclear-powered submarine program. The ASA was established as a non-corporate Commonwealth entity under the

Department of Defence Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philippin ...

consisting of defence personnel and

Australian public servants Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

. Personnel will be based across Australia as well as in the United Kingdom and the United States, numbering 350 increasing to 680 within the following year.

Submarine acquisition

The role of the ASA is to support Australia's acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines. The acquisition, through the AUKUS partnership, will include three Virginia-class and five SSN-AUKUS submarines.

USS Delaware (SSN-791) USS ''Delaware'' (SSN-791) is a attack submarine built for the United States Navy. The contract to build her was awarded to Huntington Ingalls Industries in partnership with the Electric Boat division of General Dynamics in Newport News, Vir ...

and

USS New Jersey (SSN-796) ''New Jersey'' (SSN-796) is a nuclear powered -class attack submarine and will be the third U.S. Navy vessel named for the state of New Jersey. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the name on 25 May 2015, at a ceremony in Jersey City, ...

are likely to be the two existing United States Navy fleet units that will transferred to the Royal Australian Navy, with the third vessel being a new build.

Submarine construction

The ASA will be the lead agency for nuclear vessel construction, with the Osborne Naval Shipyard designated as the preferred location for the construction of nuclear submarines in Australia. Five Australian SSN-AUKUS submarines will be built in South Australia as part of the arrangement with an undetermined amount of the same design to be built by BAE Systems Submarines for the Royal Navy.

Nuclear vessel support

As part of the transition from diesel-electric to nuclear-powered submarines, the Royal Australian Navy will be using one Royal Navy and four United States Navy submarines stationed at HMAS Stirling on a rotational basis under the name ''Submarine Rotational Force – West (SRF-West)''.

Leadership

Director-General

References

External links

Australian Submarine Agency official website
{{Australian Defence Force Commonwealth Government agencies of Australia 2023 establishments in Australia Government agencies established in 2023 Organisations based in Canberra Submarine organizations