Raytheon Australia has announced the establishment of its Australian Submarine Industry Incubator in Adelaide to complement the combat systems integrator’s existing incubator in Sydney, giving Australian businesses the opportunity to engage in integration work on Australian submarines.

Managing director Michael Ward said in a statement that the incubator reflects Raytheon Australia’s commitment to helping innovative Australian businesses play an active role in development work on submarine combat systems.

“This is about real submarine work for Australians; the incubator aims to create new and sustainable submarine combat systems work right here in this country,” Ward said. “For more than 15 years, Raytheon’s investment in Australia has centred on the people, tools, processes and know-how necessary to create the largest and most capable combat system integrator in the country.”

The incubator will allow Australian SMEs to mature their technical applications by dynamically testing them in the incubator environment. Upon appropriate Commonwealth approval, Raytheon stated, the incubator could facilitate the integration of technical applications into the tactical weapon control system in Australian submarines.

Cirrus Real Time Processing Systems, one of the companies that is participating, praised the initiative.

“I am pleased that Cirrus is actively participating in this new Raytheon Australia industry incubator, which provides a potential integration pathway for relevant indigenous technologies to contribute to our nation’s sovereign submarine capability,” said Cirrus managing director Peter Freed.

“The combat systems environment brings with it a range of technology, integration, export controls and naval regulatory issues, and this incubator serves as an important link in surmounting these challenges.”

Raytheon Australia has used close to 200 Australian suppliers to support its Collins class submarine combat system activities and has worked with 300 local suppliers on the Hobart class Air Warfare Destroyer.

Raytheon Australia is going head to head with Lockheed Martin Australia in a limited tender process to choose the combat system integrator for the Future Submarine program.