An industry source has described the General Purpose Frigate project as a “goat rodeo”, but before we get to that a few words about the cancellation of SEA 1905. This was the latest RAN effort to improve mine warfare capabilities – and after five years of effort on the part of three bidders has been abruptly cancelled. No reason has been given but it looks to be because Australia will soon transfer $4.7 billion to profitable US submarine construction companies. However, mine warfare is a vital capability, particularly if you hope to operate nuclear-powered submarines.
A few words about the IIP – and the big takeaway is that funding is only available for the new submarines and general purpose frigates. This means Navy will receive 38% of the acquisition budget – more than Army, RAAF and Cyber combined. Finally the Luerssen corvette offer – and someone has to find out why it was apparently ignored by the Independent Review into the surface fleet. It’s the only way of rapidly delivering capability with all ships constructed at Henderson with an existing Australian supply chain giving 80% local content.
To borrow a well use term of today’s Generation, W T F are these people doing, when it comes to Defence nobody has a clue.The incompetence of this Government is mind boggling. The AUKUS project is a pipe dream ( at this time ) , there is no feasible way that the R.A.N can operate either of the Preferred Options, neither the U.S or U.K. is in a position to supply second boats any time in the next 10years (or ever ) and it is way out of our Price Range. The General Purpose Frigate Program has all the hallmarks of another Attack Class or Hunter Class Fiasco and so far the DSR has either emasculated Defence or been completely ignored, which ever suited, the R.A.A.F is in reasonable shape to do its job, more secure operating bases would be better , a long range ( without KC 30 support ) Strike Capability is still needed, the Army likewise is on track (an exceptionally long track ) Long Range Fires is a priority, (Strike Masters and Chunmoos would be nice) ,armed Drones and ditch the Abraham’s for something like the Lynx 120 FSV that’s more survivable than the lumbering MBT. The Army’s job is to Protect Australia, not fight other people’s wars and should be equipped appropriately, the Navy Chiefs need to pull their heads in and stop shopping with Champagne tastes on a Lemonade Budget. Take up the Luerssen Offer of the Corvette, repurpose the Arafura already built to Mine Warfare , Hand Over the Cape Class to the ADF and redeploy their crews and start negotiating with Hanwha about the KSS iii to replace the Collins. All the promised projects announced so far all have one or two things in common, they’re all U.S. dependant and they’re all scheduled for the next Decade. We need it Now and rest assured our Allies aren’t going to carry our shit if we can’t lift it ourselves..
Thanks Michael – that seems to be a fair summary of the situation. Most analysts agree that the only way out of this mess is far greater clarity of thought coupled with a real increase in Defence spending on top of inflation now, not at the end of the decade.
So basically the RAN’s MCM capability comes down to some divers and the ADV’s Guidance and Reliant which will now be without the equipment 1905 was supposed to deliver?
Who is making these decisions?
There are still 4 Huon class MHCs (out of the 6 purchased) on the books – but they have been in need of upgrades for about the last 15 years. Those kept on being deferred / delayed because of all of this dicking around on SEA 1778 / SEA 1905.
All questions about the decision making process need to be directed to the Minister responsible, Richard Marles MP.
I suspect that there are two justifications behind the scenes to reprioritize mine warfare:
1. the intention is to hand it off to autonomous underwater vehicles like the Ghost Shark and Speartooth, and/or
2. they have already decided that they want the Mogami (or its successor) for the GPF because of the lower crew requirements, and it has integrated mine hunting sonar.
Not sure if either of these are good or sufficient reasons, but it would at least be an explanation that retains a coherent mine warfare strategy going forward.
I would be very impressed if the RAN was capable of such long term thought. Ghost Shark and Speartooth are both extremely large AUVs with ranges in the thousands of kilometres. The types of UAVs suitable for MCM are much smaller and more agile – and were at the heart of SEA 1905. I have no idea why RAN has short listed the Mogami because they will not say anything about the selection process.
I can’t get over the fact that we were promised that the days of “Valleys of Death” were a thing of the past. Dear Malcom. Standing at “The pulpit” conjuring up a “new dawn” of ship building and a constant production line of nation committed to marine manufacturing with all the “Nation Building Attributes” that go along with it. That BS Vision” will haunt Australia with what could have been, but torpedoed by broken promises and “slight of hand” political manoeuvring. That era should serve to demonstrate that BS will get you through the election cycle. Governments that are more than happy to spend billions on a “pipe dream” to ensnare hope while doing nothing.
Successive governments have been unable to stick with a plan – and the RAN also lacks the discipline to implement a sensible industrial strategy. Several problems would be fixed simultaneously if the build of the Arafura class morphed into the construction of heavily armed 2,100 tonne corvettes. However, since the tactic of the RAN is to blame Luerssen for all of the Arafura problems rather than accepting responsibility for their own errors, they have painted themselves into a corner because they cannot now award a new contract to a company that they have been lying about. Unfortunately the government is too thick and too AUKUS-obsessed to have a clue about what is happening. Result: years of chaos to come.
Kym, thought you may be interested in watching a frustrated ex USN SSN Sonarman underline the US-UK farce Australian taxpayers are told they must fork out $368bn for, watch from 5:18 on timeline
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRX5tlczC0k
Thanks. Very interesting.