Adelaide OPV build won't save jobs: Pyne

Building Australia's next fleet of patrol boats in Adelaide won't save jobs at government-owned shipbuilder ASC, federal Industry Minister Christopher Pyne says.

The South Australia government has said 800 jobs and work worth $5 billion will be lost unless the offshore patrol vessels are built ASC's Osborne shipyard from 2018.

But Mr Pyne has accused SA of misleading rhetoric, saying a local build will not save jobs currently on the line as the Air Warfare Destroyer project winds down.

"The truth is, the OPVs were never supposed to begin before 2018. So jobs at Osborne in 2016 and 2017 were never going to be saved because of the OPVs," he told ABC radio on Friday.