diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..bde5309ec0808c58e81ba5767a440afe3f426af7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "ska-makefiles"]
+	path = ska-makefiles
+	url = https://github.com/ska-telescope/ska-makefiles
diff --git a/ska-makefiles b/ska-makefiles
new file mode 160000
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..84fc6fbb3cc657db6686fd612f36d8a49d64a05e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ska-makefiles
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 84fc6fbb3cc657db6686fd612f36d8a49d64a05e