WA firm says it can build new submarines

For a company with no history building defence equipment, West Australian engineering firm Civmec is aiming high - it wants to build Australia's new submarines.

With extensive experience in the resources sector and a location close to the WA submarines base and other shipyards, the company believes it can grab some or all of this work for the west.

Mike Deeks, Civmec's defence general manager, said Civmec planned to be a serious player in the defence industry.

"We do complex modular construction for sub-sea fixtures for the oil and gas industry, skills and capabilities readily transferable to the defence industry," he told AAP.

To demonstrate its abilities, Civmec is constructing a sample submarine hull section to a design provided by one of the three contenders, all at its own cost. It won't say which contender.

That section is now about half finished. On completion, it will be returned to the foreign firm for its expert assessment.

"Our existing capabilities in terms of workforces skills, our equipment in terms of our welding, rolling and cutting machines are all state-of-the-art," he told AAP.

"Some of the work we have done already proves we can construct submarine hull sections."

Three companies - German firm TKMS, French firm DCNS and the Japanese government - are bidding to build the future submarines to replace the navy's six Collins subs from around the middle of next decade.

Bids close on November 30, with the government set to announce the winner some time next year.

It's likely the new boats will be built mostly or entirely in Australia.

Labor and the coalition have pointed to Adelaide, where Collins boats were built, as construction centre for the new subs, with expectation that some work could go to BAE Systems in Melbourne and Forgacs in Newcastle.

Civmec is now in the process of acquiring Forgacs shipbuilding and engineering works, plus the Forgacs name, to increase its east coast footprint for future resources sector and defence work.

Mr Deeks, a former Navy submarine force commander and director of the Submarine Institute of Australia, said representatives of all three competitors had visited Civmec, all expressing surprise that the company is as big and as competent as it is.

"We weren't initially on their radar," he said.