- The Assist Framework
Building a national model for sovereign, scalable maritime sustainment infrastructure
Government recognises that Australia will require upgraded sustainment shipyards in the years ahead. Meeting this need is not only about modernising individual facilities, but also about developing a coordinated approach aligned with national priorities.
For decades, sustainment infrastructure has lagged platform innovation, with fragmented delivery across sites – contributing to reduced fleet availability, and inflated whole-of-life costs.
ASSIST responds to this by embedding sustainment considerations into planning and platform design from the outset, to develop an optimised, standardised approach.
It offers a repeatable model that could be applied nationally, supporting Defence, industry, and Australia’s broader strategic interests.
What ASSIST aims to deliver
A sovereign-led, industry-backed strategy to:
- Improve coordination, and shipyard planning and delivery
- Enable early activation of sustainment capability
- Support development of transferable IP, technology and potential export opportunities
- Contribute to jobs, skills, and sovereign capability.
Principles guiding ASSIST
Standardisation
Use of common design standards (platform and infrastructure), modular systems, and interoperable facilities across sites and vessel classes.
- Reduces cost, risk and delivery time
- Enables fleet-wide compatibility and more efficient maintenance, supporting reduced time out of water.
Scalability
A delivery model designed with replication in mind – site to site, state to state.
- Supports cost-effective national application
- Builds operational redundancy and geographic resilience.
Sovereignty
Strengthened control of infrastructure, systems, supply chains, and workforce.
- Contributes to securing Australia’s industrial base
- Enables independent sustainment of current and future fleets and promotes readiness.
Five lines of effort
ASSIST – Cairncross Dockyard Brisbane (CDB)
Led by Cairncross Dockyard Brisbane Pty Ltd. CDB is the national pilot and demonstrator. It could bring together dry-docking, advanced shiplift systems, cradles, and operating systems, advanced manufacturing, green and advanced steels, smart sustainment technologies and workforce training.
ASSIST - Research and Innovation
Led by AMC Search (a division of the Australian Maritime College), with support from research partners and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), focusing on:
- 21st century drydock systems
- Dockyard standardisation
- Marine Corrosion and advanced materials.
Assist - Operations
Led by Serco, in collaboration with platform OEMs and the local workforce. Focus areas include:
- Systems integration
- Dockyard management
- Workforce delivery and operations support
Assist - Supply Chain
Driven by sovereign capability partners including Bardex, Vulcan and Giflo Steels Australia. Focus areas include:
- Advanced steels and development of “Green” steel supply chain
- Critical systems and materials
- A secure and scalable procurement base.
Assist - Advance
Delivered by Trigonomics, Seymour Whyte, and education partners, delivering:
- Rapid, low cost, low risk, replication of the ASSIST model
- Infrastructure design and construction
- Smart build systems and modular yard components
- Workforce and skills uplift for national rollout
- Coordinated risk mitigation strategies.
Standardising sustainment. Supporting readiness.
ASSIST is aligned with the 2024 National Defence Strategy and 2024 Defence Industry Development Strategy. It provides a sovereign framework designed for national application to:
- Enable platform-aligned infrastructure
- Support AUKUS and allied interoperability
- Anchor maritime capability in sovereign supply chains
- Generate long-term economic and productivity dividends.
Frequently Asked Questions
ASSIST is a proposed sovereign-led, industry-backed initiative being advanced through the ASSIST Alliance. It provides a scalable model for modern shipyard sustainment infrastructure – one that can be shaped by government and industry to support Australia’s current and future naval and commercial fleets in a cost-effective and nationally aligned way.
Maritime sustainment infrastructure has often struggled to keep pace with advances in vessel design, reducing readiness and increasing costs. ASSIST is intended to address this by promoting a standardised approach to shipyard sustainment infrastructure that enables faster, more cost-effective delivery and strengthens sovereign control of critical systems.
CDB is the pilot site for the ASSIST model. It will combine existing assets with targeted upgrades (e.g. modern shiplifts and cradles) to demonstrate how the model could operate in practice. The site will also play a central role in research, innovation and workforce development in maritime sustainment, directly supporting sovereign capability and national skills priorities.
ASSIST seeks to strengthen Australia’s control over sustainment shipyard capability - including infrastructure, systems, skills, and supply chains. It will achieve this by involving sovereign-capable partners, encouraging local industry participation, and building resilient supply chains to underpin independent sustainment of Defence and commercial fleets.
ASSIST is being advanced through the ASSIST Alliance – an emerging group of companies, institutions, and research organisations with Defence and industry experience. Structured around defined lines of effort, the Alliance covers infrastructure delivery, operations, research and supply chain resilience. Importantly, it remains open to government, Defence, and new industry partners who wish to contribute.
There are multiple ways to engage with ASSIST – through supply chains, research partnerships, workforce initiatives, or sustainment discussions. The Alliance is open to collaboration, and welcomes Government, Defence, industry, and academic stakeholders to explore site visits, briefings, or other opportunities for alignment.