Two Cantabria's have been selected to replace Sirius and Success, both to be built in Navantia's Ferrol shipyard.
The report below covers the high points, though it was written by a South Australian journalist and like the politicians in that state they seem to believe they have a god-given right to build warships, even when ASC doesn't have the capability or the expertise to do so. Xenephon's, Labor's and ASC's comments below can be dismissed for the self-serving crap that they are.
The Navy felt Cantabria was a good fit with RAN operations when she operated down here for a year, a perfect example of try before you buy in action. This is a significant win for the RAN, replacing Success with a ship that is equally if not more capable and Sirius, which never really worked, with something light years ahead in capability.
The ships will be built in Spain but some / most of the fitting out will be done in Australia as per the two LPDs. The final percentage of the work to be done in Australia is to be finalised during the second stage negotiations.
I had heard from contacts in Canberra that Cantabria was the favored to win, after all they had their proposed vessel in the water and in service, whereas DSME were offering a paper project (none of the AORs they have on order for Norway, the UK and possibly New Zealand) have been completed and commissioned.
DSME, I suspect, also lost out due to their well-known financial difficulties. I'd deem them a risk for any new contract.
Mike
Spanish shipyard Navantia’s 3000-job gain our loss
THE AUSTRALIAN MARCH 11, 2016 12:00AM
Rebecca Puddy
Reporter
Adelaide
About 3000 jobs will flow to Spain following the federal government’s selection of shipbuilder Navantia as the preferred tenderer for the navy’s new supply ships.
Defence Minister Marise Payne yesterday confirmed the decision to select Navantia as the preferred tenderer for the two new oil tankers, after Spanish media reported that officials in the shipbuilding town of Cadiz were celebrating the “historic” win.
The new defence Integrated Investment Plan puts the cost of the entire replacement supply ship program at $1 billion to $2bn, including long-term operations and sustainment, while Navantia’s 19,500-tonne Cantabria-class replenishment vessels each cost about $350 million.
The defence white paper released last month says a third replenishment or logistics vessel will follow in the late 2020s.
Ms Payne said local industry involvement under the contract was worth more than $100m, with the government determining that Australian shipyards did not have the capacity to complete the ships in the required time, given their size and the limitations of South Australia’s shoplift and yard capacity.
“It has been clear for years that these ships required replacing but the former Labor government did nothing to address this,” she said.
“The ships are required as soon as possible by navy and the government has confirmed a preferred partner.”
Navantia, which was in discussions with senior Defence bureaucrats yesterday, declined to comment on how many Australian jobs would flow from the contract.
The company’s managing director, Francisco Baron, has previously said the ships would be built “basically in Spain”.
It is understood SAAB has submitted a proposal to Navantia to build the vessels’ combat systems, which would occur in Adelaide and provide navy with crew transferability between the Anzac frigates and the two Canberra-class amphibious assault ships that also use SAAB systems.
Malcolm Turnbull dodged questions about the decision on the final day of his pre-campaign blitz in South Australia, ahead of a speech on jobs and the economy.
“It’s good of you to come but we are giving an important speech about the future of the South Australian economy and the Australian economy and I hope you enjoy it,” he told The Australian.
Labor’s defence spokesman, Stephen Conroy, said the decision was another example of the Prime Minister saying one thing and doing another. “As a result of this government’s actions, more than 1500 Australian shipyard workers have lost their jobs across Australia,” he said.
Independent South Australian senator Nick Xenophon said it was “a kick in the guts for Australian workers and completely avoidable”. While the contract is yet to be formally offered to Navantia, the Spanish company is the sole tenderer in negotiations with the federal government for the final stage of negotiations ahead of second-pass approvals, the final phase of Defence’s capability acquisition process.
The tankers will replace HMAS Success, whose life of type ends next year, and HMAS Sirius. It is understood Defence will seek to extend the life of HMAS Success for five years, at a cost of about $200m, with the Spanish vessels expected from 2021.
Unsolicited bids to part-build the vessels in ASC’s Adelaide shipyard and BAE’s Williamstown shipyard were knocked out of contention following a 2014 Abbott government decision to hold a limited tender restricted to South Korea and Spain.
South Korea’s DSME had said earlier that under its tender more than 90 per cent of in-service support for the first five years after delivery would be done in Australia.
In 2013, ASC said it could deliver three ships for the price of two built offshore with some work allocated to Australian shipyards.
Just saying 
