The Royal Australian Navy's future strategy

[Anzac]

https://www.reuters.com/business/aer...es-2023-03-08/

Australia is expected to buy up to five U.S. Virginia class nuclear powered submarines in the 2030's as part of a landmark defense agreement between Washington, Canberra and London, four U.S. officials said on Wednesday, in a deal that would present a new challenge to China.

In the early 2030's, Australia would buy 3 Virginia class submarines and have the option to buy two more.

The agreement, known as the AUKUS pact, will have multiple stages with at least one U.S. submarine visiting Australian ports in the coming years and end in the late 2030's with a new class of submarines being built with British designs and American technology, one of the officials said.

[na grohmiti]

More RAN news.

HMAS Choules at Fleet Base East in Sydney, the week of Indo Pacific 2022.
New Details Emerge On Australia’s Future Joint Support Ship

During INDO PACIFIC 2022 several contenders emerged for the Royal Australian Navy’s requirement for new Joint Support Ships (JSS). Under project SEA2200, Australia will domestically build two multipurpose auxiliary vessels, able to perform both sealift and replenishment operations, to replace HMAS Choules.


Benjamin Felton 13 May 2022

So far, the only company to go public with a bid is BMT, who are displaying their ELLIDA design at INDO PACIFIC 2022. The ELLIDA design, based on the same family of auxiliary craft as the Royal Fleet Auxiliaries Tide class tankers, has a large roll-on roll-off (RoRo) cargo deck as well as provisions to conduct underway replenishment.

BMT’s ELLIDA concept at Indo Pacific 2022.
BMT declined to comment on where the vessels would be built if they won the contract, but Naval News understands that Western Australia is a likely candidate. BMT did tell Naval News, however, that there is currently no shipyard in Australia able to build ships of the needed size.

Previously, all of the Navy’s large vessels including the Supply class auxiliary oilers, and Canberra class LHDs have been constructed in overseas yards for that very reason.

Navantia’s JSS design
The builder of the Supply and Canberra class vessels, Navantia, is also understood to be interested in the program. Navantia Australia, the group’s Australian subsidiary, will likely submit its indigenously designed JSS concept to SEA2200. Naval News previously covered the design in detail during PACIFIC 2019. The same concept was once again on display at INDO PACIFIC 2022.

Dutch company Damen is also understood to be interested in meeting the requirement with its own Joint Support Ship design. Like the other contenders, the Damen design is fitted with a well deck, expansive aviation facilities, and liquid and solid fuel storage as well as means to transfer while underway.

Contacted by Naval News for comments, an Australian Department of Defence spokesperson said:

As advised in the Force Structure Plan 2020 (FSP20), to further expand the ADF’s ability to support an increased presence in the region, Government’s plans include:

– Design, development and acquisition of two Australian-built multi-role sealift and replenishment vessels to replace HMAS Choules. This will greatly extend Navy’s ability to project and sustain the joint force.

New Details Emerge on Australia's Future Joint Support Ship - Naval News

[na grohmiti]

Another Armidale decommissioned. The third, when you include Bundaberg. A remarkably short service history, most only having entered service in 2005 or 2006. Goes to show how hard they have worked during their service (not to mention Co-Starring on "Sea Patrol": Broome, Launceston). Multi crewed during their early service, later on single crewed, as they begun to wear out.

Royal Australian Navy personnel from HMAS Maitland said a fond farewell to the Armidale-class patrol boat in a decommissioning ceremony at HMAS Coonawarra in Darwin on Thursday, 28 April 2022 after 16 years of distinguished service. Since commissioning in 2006, HMAS Maitland sailed more than 435,054 nautical miles -- which is nearly 900,000km or 20 times around Earth -- deployed on Operations Augury, Rai Balang, Sandalwood and Solania, and supported the Australian Government agencies Border Force, Australian Fisheries and Australian Federal Police on Operation Resolute. HMAS Maitland is named after the City of Maitland in New South Wales, and the World War II naval training establishment located in Newcastle, NSW. She is the second Armidale-class patrol boat to be decommissioned.

[na grohmiti]

HMAS Sirius was Decommissioned earlier this week.

[apc]

Good read on the submarine issue https://warontherocks.com/2021/10/tr...ias-influence/

[Anzac]

Remind me again how many military projects come in on time, on budget and on spec?

Certainly with respect to the ADF. There are 87 major projects of those the following 10 are currently listed as of being projects of concern and including the prime contractor by the Australian National Audit Office.

AIR 87 — ARH Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (Airbus)
SEA 4000 — Air Warfare Destroyer (Navantia)
JP 2008 Phase 3F — Defence SATCOM Terrestrial Enhancement (BAE)
AIR 5431 Phase 3 Civil — Military Air Traffic Management System (Thales)
AIR 5431 Phase 1 — Deployable Defence Air Traffic Management (Indra)
AIR 9000 Phases 2/4/6 — MRH90 Multi Role Helicopters (NHIndustries)
LAND 121 — Overlander, Medium and Heavy (Rheinmetall MAN)
SEA 1448 Phase 2A/2B — ANZAC-class Anti-Ship Missile Defence (BAE)
JP 2043 — High Frequency Communications Modernisation (Boeing)
SEA 1000 – Collins Class Submarine Replacement (Naval Group)

And the French can do a lot more than whine and whinge, the EU-US summit seems to be off and the noise for the EU-Australia Trade Deal isn’t looking good.

The Australians would have factored in the EU FTA deal potentially going south in all of this which still has not really got anywhere after 3 years and have calculated business as usual under WTO rules and the Mutual Recognition Agreement will do for now and keep developing its growing and frankly more lucrative trade footprint in the Indo-Pacific. The EU-US summit is if does get called off, will likely do more damage to the EU than the US, who will further pivot away from Europe and towards the Indo-Pacific.

[Sparky42]

That is the only thing the French can do - whinge.

They were warned by the GoA numerous times over the last 18 months that this deal was on shaky ground. They were warned finally this past June, 5 years and 2 months after the contract was signed, that by September they will have to deliver a significant design milestone for the project to continue. They were not delivering contractual benchmarks and the costs had ballooned from €31 billion to €56 billion and they thought they could bluff this one through.

This failure by Naval Group to deliver is obviously deeply embarrassing for them as a company and the Macron government. Of course they are going to be angry and flail around. Every other buyer particularly in the Indo-Pacific region will now be questioning whether the French defence sector can provide the reliability and contractual compliance they require - because we all look to the Aussies as they are the defence capability benchmark.

https://www.politico.eu/article/why-...-sub-deal/amp/

Remind me again how many military projects come in on time, on budget and on spec? And the French can do a lot more than whine and whinge, the EU-US summit seems to be off and the noise for the EU-Australia Trade Deal isn’t looking good.

[na grohmiti]

So the RAN just retired its two oldest ships.
Spoiler: they served for 32 years!

[Anzac]

The French have pulled their Ambassadors from Australia and the US.

That is the only thing the French can do - whinge.

They were warned by the GoA numerous times over the last 18 months that this deal was on shaky ground. They were warned finally this past June, 5 years and 2 months after the contract was signed, that by September they will have to deliver a significant design milestone for the project to continue. They were not delivering contractual benchmarks and the costs had ballooned from €31 billion to €56 billion and they thought they could bluff this one through.

This failure by Naval Group to deliver is obviously deeply embarrassing for them as a company and the Macron government. Of course they are going to be angry and flail around. Every other buyer particularly in the Indo-Pacific region will now be questioning whether the French defence sector can provide the reliability and contractual compliance they require - because we all look to the Aussies as they are the defence capability benchmark.

https://www.politico.eu/article/why-...-sub-deal/amp/

[Sparky42]

The French have pulled their Ambassadors from Australia and the US.

[Anzac]

Vice Admiral Michael Noonan RAN announcing the AUKUS arrangement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WYuGu5QNDA

[Anzac]

Are the RAAF F35s B models?

No they have ordered 72 F-35A of which 33 have been delivered.

https://www.military.com/defensetech...strike-fighter

Though the above article does not mention it the idea of a 3rd LHD like the Jaun Carlos able to fly F-35'Bs was briefly raised.

[na grohmiti]

Are the RAAF F35s B models?

[Anzac]

Looks like the French SSK deal is getting canned and Australia is going Nuclear with help from the US and U.K. according to reports.

The French deal signed 5 years ago was going nowhere. Naval Group had until September to prove they had their act together and it looks as though they have failed and patience in Canberra ran out as this is the RAN's priority build for the next 30 years valued at $90B. Speculation is that 8 boomers will be build instead of 12 conventional's.

During the Cold War the RAN operated a carrier and at one stage post WW2 two Sydney and Melbourne, and a few years ago former PM Abbott speculated on a possible light carrier based on the Canberra Class LHD's with F-35'Bs. With close partners Japan, South Korea and Singapore looking at carriers one wonders how long it will be before Australia gets back into the Carrier business. There are still options for 28 F-35's that Canberra has not up taken yet.

[Sparky42]

Looks like the French SSK deal is getting canned and Australia is going Nuclear with help from the US and U.K. according to reports.