BAE Systems wins $15m contract to swap subs' periscope systems

BAE periscope program senior quality engineer Mike McMonagle conducts an optical alignment inspection.

BAE Systems has won a $15 million contract to replace periscope systems in the Collins class submarines with work flowing through its Mawson Lakes workshop.

The contract will see the current outdated analogue electronic sub-system in the first of the six Collins class submarines replaced with a new digital system.

There were hopes that once the first system was replaced and proved successful, BAE would win further work to replace the periscope systems in the remaining five submarines.

BAE Systems will work with Thales Optronics in Glasgow, Scotland, for the next 26 months through the design, develop and manufacture of the one attack and one search periscope system, before installation in Adelaide.

BAE Land and Integrated Systems director Kim Scott said the company had been supporting the Collins class submarines' periscope systems for more than two decades when the warships were first launched.

Periscope Systems project manager Hugh Cardle said the periscope system - made up of the one attack and one search periscope - were the vital "eyes" in the Collins.

They were housed in 12.5 metre-long tubes that were raised and lowered about six metres.

"(The current system) was first designed in the '80s so the old electronics are getting obsolete," Mr Cardle said.

"We have negotiated an in-country offset arrangement with Thales Optronics in Glasgow; they are the designers and we are the local in-country builders and maintainers."

Two periscopes have been provided to the UK to be stripped and fitted out.

BAE maintains and supports the periscope systems in the Collins subs with about 16 staff spread through two workshops in Mawson Lakes and Garden Island in WA.

BAE worked with Thales Optronics on installing the first periscope system into the submarine HMAS Collins in the early '90s. Local work then stepped up to about 80 per cent on the last sub.

"Then we won a support contract in 2002 of about $5 million over five years to maintain the periscope systems," Mr Cardle said.