Australia Picks Henderson for A$12bn Naval Hub Backing AUKUS Submarines
Precinct will host Mogami-class frigate construction, fleet maintenance and Army landing craft
Australia has selected the Western Australian site for an A$12bn naval hub that will support continuous warship construction, surface fleet maintenance and the country's future conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Western Australian Premier Roger Cook announced the selection of the Henderson Defence Precinct site on 24 August 2026. The precinct will support submarine sustainment under the AUKUS arrangement with the United Kingdom and United States, while also hosting construction of the Royal Australian Navy's future general-purpose Mogami-class frigates and Australian Army ro-ro landing craft.
The federal government committed an initial A$12bn to the project in September 2025. Earlier planning had estimated infrastructure investment at Henderson at about A$25bn over a decade, which gives some measure of the gap between the announced commitment and the eventual cost of the full build-out.
Defence Minister Richard Marles called the site selection "a major step towards establishing a world-class sovereign shipbuilding and sustainment hub in Western Australia". The project now moves into concept design and remains subject to legislative and regulatory approvals.
Investment in Henderson, naval shipbuilding and AUKUS-related infrastructure is expected to support around 10,000 direct jobs in Western Australia over the next 20 years.
Preparatory work is already contracted. Bechtel Infrastructure Australia was appointed in March to lead master planning and provide infrastructure design advice for the precinct, and AECOM Australia was appointed in May to carry out engineering, environmental and marine site-characterisation work around Cockburn Sound. Those studies matter for a site that has to accommodate both submarine sustainment and surface construction on the same stretch of water.
Austal Limited already operates facilities at Henderson. Its Austal Defence Australia subsidiary is the Commonwealth's strategic shipbuilder in Western Australia and is contracted to deliver 18 Landing Craft Medium vessels for the Australian Army, with eight Landing Craft Heavy vessels also planned under the continuous shipbuilding programme. The precinct decision consolidates that existing industrial base rather than starting from open ground, which is the practical argument that carried the site over alternatives on the east coast.
