Navantia Australia has announced the opening of its Operations & Design Centre at Technology Park Adelaide, at Mawson Lakes in South Australia, which will be home to the shipbuilder’s engineering and design capabilities in Australia.

In addition, Navantia announced during the event that Warren King, formerly chief executive of the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO), is being engaged as a senior advisor to Navantia Australia on acquisition and sustainment policy.

“Navantia has as well a large team of technicians working on the construction of the AWDs, building up a highly knowledgeable and capable workforce in the shipyard at Osborne,” the shipbuilder said in a statement. “Through its work to date, Navantia has demonstrated its commitment and capability, and is contributing to achieving better progress and putting the project back on track.

“As one of the candidates for the SEA 5000 Future Frigate, Navantia sees its work at Osborne and the new workforce at the Operations & Design Centre as being ideally placed to provide a seamless, significant and well-established team for the execution of the future Australian shipbuilding industry [endeavour].”

First pass approval for the Future Frigate program has seen BAE Systems with the Type 26 Global Combat Ship, Fincantieri with the Italian FREMM frigate and Navantia with a redesigned F100 frigate (the baseline platform design for the Hobart class Air Warfare Destroyer) shortlisted to refine their designs.

The Spanish company hailed its shortlisting for the Future Frigates, shortly after it was selected as the preferred tenderer for the replenishment ships, as a significant milestone for its activities in Australia.

“Navantia won already in 2014 the contract for performing studies for the future Australian frigate whose results, which showed the feasibility of the F100 platform for the Future Frigate program, played a very important role in Navantia being selected as a potential designer,” the company stated previously.

“Navantia’s alternative entails a line of continuity with the AWD program, both with regard to the product commonality and the industrial organisation with the processes introduced by the Spanish shipbuilding company in Adelaide’s shipyard.”

King will become a member of Navantia Australia in the capacity of advisor, the company says. (Navantia)