US companies will lead the naval shipbuilding college. Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne announced participants in the long-awaited college yesterday. Engineering services provider Kellogg Brown & Root and military shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls are the principals.  As per the original brief, the college will operate in all states with Mr Pyne naming local participants already enlisted: the Defence Teaming Centre, University of South Australia, University of Adelaide, Flinders University, RMIT, Edith Cowan U, TAFE SA, South Metro TAFE (WA) the Indigenous Defence Consortium and the University of Tasmania’s Australian Maritime College.

UTas was quick to make the best of what does not look like a vote of confidence in the capacity of Australian maritime construction training, announcing it is; “delighted to be a strategic partner in this new national enterprise and looks forward to working closely to deliver the expertise and the workforce the Australian Government’s continuous naval shipbuilding plan will require.”