'We will rise to the challenge’ - ASA marks 2 years of operation

By ASA Media

ASA Director-General Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead watches United States Navy Virginia-class submarine USS North Carolina (SSN 777) as the submarine arrives at Fleet Base West in Rockingham, Western Australia.

Dignitaries turn the sod to mark the commencement of the construction of the Skills and Training Academy building at the Osborne Ship Building Yard in Adelaide, South Australia. (L-R) Delivery Director SSN AUKUS (CoA) Mr Jim Cuthill; Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ASC Pty Ltd. Stuart Wiley; Director-General, Australian Submarine Agency Vice Admiral Jonathon Mead, AO, RAN; Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, the Hon Richard Marles MP; Premier of South Australia, The Hon Peter Ma

Dignitaries turn the sod to mark the commencement of the construction of the Skills and Training Academy building at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in Adelaide, South Australia.

Tradesmen in protective gear using an angle grinder to cut metal sheet.

A member of the ASC Fabrication Team works in the background during a VIP visit for the Australian Government's announcement for the commencement of construction at the site of the Skills and Training Academy (STA) Campus in South Australia.

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1 July 2025

Today marks two years since the establishment of the Australian Submarine Agency (ASA), founded in 2023 to deliver the whole-of-nation endeavour for Australia’s conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS partnership.

Speaking at a defence summit in Adelaide, inaugural Director-General of ASA, Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead, marked the milestone and underscored the importance of Australia acquiring a nuclear-powered submarine capability.

‘It would be fair to say that the world and the region has become even less stable in the last four and a half years, less stable in the last four months, and some would even say less stable in the last four weeks,’ said Vice Admiral Mead.

‘I think all this reinforces the reason why we are embarking upon this unprecedented program to develop a capability that will defend Australia, protect Australians and safeguard our economic prosperity.’

Australia’s 2024 National Defence Strategy(Opens in a new tab/window) outlined six priority areas and conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines was listed as the number one focus to complement the Strategy of Denial.

‘The nuclear powered submarine program is the hardest thing Australia has ever undertaken [and] will be the most complex engineering feat in the world,’ added Vice Admiral Mead.

‘It will transform Australia. There is no precedence for what we are doing.’

Vice Admiral Mead highlighted the significant accomplishments of the Australian Submarine Agency in delivering the nuclear powered submarine program set out in the Optimal Pathway announced in March 2023, and focused on the progress being made at Osborne Naval Shipyard.

‘Osborne will play a critical role in leading the build of Australia's own SSN-AUKUS [and] will generate between 4,000–5,500 jobs,’ said Vice Admiral Mead.

‘If you go to Osborne and see the skills and training academy, you will see unbelievable progress. There are hundreds of trucks and graders and bulldozers there to prepare the area. We expect to have it concluded by the end of 2027 and we will be punching out between 800 and 1,000 graduates every year. The shipyard that will enable us to commence build of SSN AUKUS by the end of the decade.’

Director-General of ASA, Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead, speaking at ADM South Australian Defence Summit in Adelaide on 1 July 2025.

The Skills and Training Academy will feature trade workshops, hi-tech classrooms and a large central submarine simulation area to deliver innovative training to support Australia’s submarine and shipbuilding workforce.

Vice Admiral Mead said that developing and growing the required NPS workforce would be the programs ‘greatest challenge’ and highlighted many of pioneering initiatives recently implemented.

‘We have 4000 Commonwealth Supported student pathway programs set up; we have a ship building employment pathways initiative; we have a range of, apprentice programs in South Australia; the Defence industry pathways program; welding initiatives, the list goes on and on,’ said Vice Admiral Mead.

‘We also have people doing deep-seated education programs in UNSW and ANU in nuclear engineering and nuclear science, and we have personnel exchange programs with the US, and we are about to embark on an exchange program with naval reactors that will lead to about 40 Australians being embedded in Naval Reactors.

Vice Admiral Mead acknowledged the ongoing workforce and uplift taking place across the country in preparation for Submarine Rotational Force – West. This includes Royal Australian Navy sailors and officers undertaking training with the US Navy, multiple visits by US Virginia-class submarines to Australia, and Australian Submarine Corporation workers conducting maintenance training at Pearl Harbor(Opens in a new tab/window).

‘I have faith, great faith, in Australia, to take on and execute this fundamentally important national goal. We are a nation that demonstrates ingenuity and tenacity, and we will rise to the challenge. AUKUS is real. It is happening, and it is on track,’ concluded Vice Admiral Mead.