Austal to inspect ASC shipyard

A potential suitor for government-owned shipbuilder ASC says it is capable of building offshore patrol vessels across two states.

Perth-based Austal is hopeful of being chosen to build the vessels after the federal government announced a split build in South Australia and Western Australia.

The new fleet of boats will be built at ASC's Osborne shipyard in Adelaide from 2018 to replace the smaller Armidale-class vessels.

The work will then go to WA in 2020, when construction begins in Adelaide on the navy's new frigates.

Austal chief executive David Singleton, who has signalled interest in bidding for ASC under the right terms, will inspect the Osborne shipyard while in Adelaide this week.

He says it's too early to say whether Austal would buy into ASC if chosen to build the patrol vessels but he was open to some form of local investment.

"The government's been very clear about its desire for OPVs to commence here and transfer to WA," he told reporters on Tuesday.

"Clearly, we can facilitate that. We have operations in WA and we can be part of that.

"Now is the time to start to think about the right industrial solutions in order to make that happen in the most efficient way."

Austal has been chosen to build up to 21 replacement steel-hulled Pacific patrol boats at its Henderson shipyards in WA.

SA Defence Industries Minister Martin Hamilton-Smith, who met with Mr Singleton on Tuesday, said the ownership of ASC would be discussed with the Commonwealth.

But the state government's priority was ensuring jobs in SA.

"That's the key issue, not so much who owns what but how many jobs and how much enterprise we can create here over the next 30 to 50 years," he told reporters.