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AUSTRALIAN
airpower.
FEATURE
REPORT
Australia’s Navy:
On the move
Peter Layton
Two US Navy MH-60R Seahawk helicopters in formation. (US Navy)
AUSTRALIA’S Navy is changing
shape as the big investments
of the previous decade produce
new surface ships and aircraft.
The Navy is moving from being a
surface warfare sea control navy to
become a power projection navy.
In coming years the Navy will bring
into service two Landing Helicopter
Dock amphibious ships, three new
Air Warfare Destroyers, a fleet of
new helicopters, upgraded frigates
and potentially some new at-sea
supply ships. By the end of this
decade the current surface Navy
will have been transformed, at
least in a new equipment sense.
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DEFENCETODAY
The Navy has significant concerns with vessel
maintenance, the domestic shipbuilding program
and difficulties attracting and retaining personnel.
Moreover, bases developed for the old sea control
Navy may not be the most suitable for the new
power projection Navy. There are also emerging
concepts of a ‘national fleet’ that suggest Navy
shed some secondary tasks and concentrate on its
core business: warfighting.
NEW TASKS, NEW SEAS
The 2013 Defence White Paper assigns the Navy
a range of tasks including countering hostile naval
fleets, striking at the forward operating bases
of any adversary, projecting power by deploying
joint task forces in the Indo-Pacific region, and
supporting the operations of regional partners.
This is an offensive naval strategy that aims to
undertake operations against an adversary’s bases
and forces as far from Australia as possible. The
Navy and the Army are seen as working particularly
closely together to secure offshore territories and
to deny any adversary easy access to staging
bases from which Australia could be threatened.
The new White Paper sees an important role for
the sustained projection of power by the new joint
amphibious task forces.
The White Paper signals a further change in the
region, now seen as most important for future
Australian Naval operations. The Navy has been
on continuous operations in the Gulf region since
the early 1990s and has steadily built up a high
level of expertise in operating across the Northwest
Indian Ocean. The return of the ANZAC frigate
HMAS Toowoomba in June this year marked the
fifty-fourth rotation of a RAN ship to the Middle East
Area of Operations since the commencement of the
first Gulf War in 1990 but times are changing.
The future intent is that the focus will shift to the
Indo-Pacific, which is not open ocean but rather
includes archipelagic waters, innumerable large
and small islands, and closed seas dominated by
their surrounding lands. The geography of these
congested seas has shaped the navies of the
regional nations. These local fleets are often murky
brown-water littoral navies and shallow greenwater coastal defence navies rather than the deep
blue-water open ocean navies that Western navies
traditionally aspire to be.
The RAN is steadily becoming more deeply involved
across this wide arc of the Indo-Pacific. The Navy
has dispatched guided missile frigates to Northeast
Asia to be embedded with US aircraft carrier strike
groups operating out of Japan, is conducting
occasional small exercises with the Chinese Navy,
has formed much closer links with the Japanese
navy and will undertake its first joint naval exercise
with India in 2015. This activity is in addition to the
long-running Darwin-based Kakadu series in which
last year some 15 warships from Brunei, Indonesia,
Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand
participated. The Navy is also often involved with
the Malaysian and Singaporean navies in the Five
Power Defence Arrangement Bersama series of
exercises.
NEW SHIPS, NEW MISSIONS
The core of the new Navy is the two new Canberra
Class Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ships, at
almost 28,000 times the largest vessels ever
operated by the RAN. The ships are a development
of the Spanish Navy’s LHD, the Juan Carlos
1 Buque de Proyección Estratégica (Strategic
Projection Vessel) commissioned in 2010 and
built in the Navantia shipyard in Ferrol, Galicia. For
the Canberra class ships, Navantia is responsible
for the construction from the keel to the flight
deck with BAE Systems Australia undertaking
the fabrication of the superstructure and the ship
fit out. Work on the first ship, HMAS Canberra,
started in Ferrol in late 2008 with the hull towed
to Australia in October 2012 for fitting out at
Melbourne’s Williamstown dockyard. Work on the
second vessel, HMAS Adelaide, started in early
2010 and will follow a similar path.
HMAS Canberra is due for commissioning in
January 2014 with HMAS Adelaide planned to
commission the following year in June 2015. The
Navy will operate the ships with their embarked
landing force provided by the Australian Army’s
2nd Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment,
along with a cross section of combat and enabling
capabilities such as snipers, intelligence and logistic
specialists. The Army will also supply the helicopter
force of between 6-16 MRH-90 helicopters to
provide the essential ship-to-shore mobility. While
potentially able to contribute to many roles, the
new joint amphibious capability will initially focus
on security, stabilisation, humanitarian assistance
and disaster relief tasks.
The two LHDs will allow the ADF to develop a
modern amphibious capability based around an
Amphibious Ready Element (ARE) but enabling
growth to an Amphibious Ready Group (ARG)
if required at some future time. An ARE would
normally comprise a single ship with an Army
landing force based upon a Combat Team, with an
associated headquarters element. The ARE’s main
function will be to conduct humanitarian assistance
or non-combatant evacuation operations at short
notice. The Townsville-based ARE landing force is
currently undergoing a Pre-Deployment Training
Program involving HMAS Choules and will be ready
to embark on HMAS Canberra around December
2014.
The much larger ARG would involve the two LHDs
and HMAS Choules in combination embarking a
landing force based upon an Army Battle Group
capable of an amphibious landing and assault. The
Battle Group may be comprised of infantry, armour
(including M-1 Abram tanks), artillery, engineers,
reconnaissance and mobility helicopters and other
vehicles.
HMAS Choules, the 16,000 tonne ex-Royal Navy
Landing Ship Dock entered service in late 2011.
These three large ships will be complemented by
12 110-tonne LCM-1E fast landing craft designed
by Navantia and six new Landing Craft Heavy that
will replace the Balikpapan Class LCHs currently
leaving service.
The ADV Ocean Shield, ex-Skandi Bergen, a
civilian oil offshore support vessel, was hurriedly
acquired in 2012 when it became apparent that the
Navy’s amphibious capabilities were unexpectedly
rapidly collapsing. In 2016 when both LHDs are
in service, the Ocean Shield will be transferred
to the Australian Customs and Border Protection
Service. This 6500 tonne ship is unusual in
being able to operate in sub-Antarctic weather
conditions. The two ex-USN amphibious landing
ships HMAS Manoora and HMAS Kanimbla that
were decommissioned in 2012 have recently been
sold to Southern Recycling LLC in the United States
for scrapping, while the elderly Newcastle-built
landing ship HMAS Tobruk is also likely to be
decommissioned in the next few years.
Protecting the core of the Australian Navy will be
three new Air Warfare Destroyers (AWD), large
highly capable 7,000 tonne warships optimised
for long-range area air defence of task groups.
These new ‘Hobart’ Class ships are based on the
Spanish Navy’s Álvaro de Bazán F100 class, all
five of which were built by Navantia at Ferrol.
The Hobart Class differ from the Spanish F100
ships in numerous ways including having more
powerful diesel engines, bow thrusters, better
anti-submarine warfare capabilities including
torpedo defence decoys and the MU90 torpedo, a
horizon search radar for improved anti-ship missile
defence and the Australian-developed Nulka antiship missile decoy system.
For its primary air defence role the ship is fitted
with the very advanced Aegis Weapon System
Baseline 7.1 and the AN/SPY-1D (V) Phased Array
Radar. The ships will each have 48 Vertical Launch
System (VLS) cells; a single cell can be armed with
either a single Standard Missile 2, or four Evolved
Sea Sparrow missiles giving a most impressive air
defence capability. In addition to Harpoon anti-ship
missiles, each ship will have a Mark 45 5” naval
gun, two Typhoon weapon systems and a Phalanx
Close-in Weapon System (CWIS). The AWDs will
also carry a single MH-60R Seahawk ‘Romeo’
naval combat helicopter for surveillance and antisurface tasks.
The three AWDs will be assembled at ASC’s facility
in Osborne, South Australia from 31 pre-fabricated
modules or ‘blocks’ built by ASC, BAE Systems
Australia, the Forgacs Group and after some
problems by Navantia. The assembly of the first
ship, HMAS Hobart, is steadily progressing with the
final keel block lifted into place on 2 July this year.
This particular block, the 18th, houses flotation and
stabilisation equipment and in being consolidated
HMAS Toowoomba (FFH 156), the seventh ANZAC class frigate of the Royal Australian Navy. (Defence)
An MRH-90 helicopter comes in to land aboard an
Australian Navy ship. (Defence)
Australia’s irst ‘Canberra’ class LHD alongside the BAE
Systems Australia dock in Williamstown, Victoria.
An LCH approaches HMAS Choules. (Defence)
DEFENCETODAY
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AUSTRALIAN
airpower.
FEATURE
REPORT
into the existing ship blocks completes the keel.
In the AWD design, the keel is the main structural
element and contains part of the VLS, the diesel and
gas turbine main engine rooms, auxiliary engine
rooms, ballast tanks, propeller shafts and sonar
equipment. Overall block production and fit out is
well advanced, including the installation of the first
accommodation modules, diesel generators and
water coolers for the combat systems.
The final fabricated blocks for HMAS Hobart
were delivered in June 2013 following a week
long journey by sea from Newcastle. The blocks
will now be progressively added together on the
hardstand at the Common User Facility within
the state-government’s Techport Australia facility
adjacent to the ASC Shipyard. All three AWDs will
be assembled and then launched from this facility.
The first ship, HMAS Hobart will enter service
in March 2016 (two years later than originally
anticipated), HMAS Brisbane is now due to
commission in September 2017 with HMAS Sydney
operational in March 2019. These ships will then
replace the four remaining Adelaide class FFGs still
in service, which will be retired.
The newer fleet of eight ANZAC class frigates
though will soldier on and not begin being replaced
until beyond 2024. The ANZACs have undergone
successive modernizations with current programs
aiming to dramatically improve their air defence
capabilities. The ships when originally delivered
were derided as ‘being fitted for but not with’
however after years of patrolling in the Gulf this
epithet is no longer true.
Over the past decade, the RIM-162 Evolved Sea
Sparrow Missile (ESSM) has been introduced to
replace the old Sea Sparrow anti-air missiles,
Harpoon Block II missiles in two quad-tube canister
launchers have been fitted, two M2HB .50 calibre
machine guns in Mini Typhoon mounts and two
TopLite EO gun directors have been installed, and
the European MU90 Impact torpedo has replaced
the American Mark 46 anti-submarine torpedoes.
Other projects have added the Petrel Mine and
Obstacle Avoidance Sonar system and the Link
16 datalink to allow exchange of information with
other ships and aircraft, especially the RAAF’s new
Wedgetail AEW&C.
In the current SEA 1448 Phase 2 Anti-Ship Missile
Defence project various sensors and weapon
systems are being upgraded. The advanced
CEAFAR active phased array radar developed by
CEA in Canberra is being installed together with
the company’s CEAMOUNT missile midcourse
guidance and terminal illumination radar for the
ESSM. In addition, a Sagem VAMPIR infrared
search and track system is being fitted and
improvements made to the command and control
systems. The first ship to be completed, HMAS
Perth, is undergoing final trials and unit level
training with the last of the eight ships to be
upgraded, HMAS Toowoomba, expected to be
accepted into service in mid-2017. The ships will
by then also embark the new MH-60R helicopters.
The Navy is receiving 24 new MH-60R Seahawk
‘Romeo’ naval combat helicopters to operate
from the ANZAC Class frigates and the Hobart
Class AWDs. The new helicopters will replace
Australia’s current fleet of 16 S 70B-2 Seahawks
and allow eight MH-60Rs to be embarked at sea
at any one time with the remainder shore-based
at NAS Nowra. The MH-60R will give the RAN an
anti-surface capability with Hellfire air-to-surface
missile and an anti-submarine capability with the
Mark 54 torpedo.
The helicopter acquisition project has been
accelerated with the first flight in late June this year
at Sikorsky’s Production Facility in Connecticut,
only two years after contract signature, and
some six months ahead of the original schedule
approved in 2011. This first helicopter will soon
be transferred to Lockheed Martin’s facility in
Owego, New York, where it will be fitted with
mission systems and sensors. A further three RAN
MH-60Rs are in various stages of assembly with
the first two planned to be handed over to the RAN
in December this year. Aircrew and maintainers
from 725 Squadron are currently training with the
USN at Naval Air Station Jacksonville in Florida
while they await the arrival of the RAN’s own
aircraft in 2014.
The Navy has also recently replaced its older Sea
King utility helicopters with six MRH-90 Taipans.
The new helicopters were formally commissioned
into service in July this year with No. 808 Squadron
at NAS Nowra and will initially operate from the
Navy’s tankers and HMAS Choules.
The ability to project power depends significantly
on the ability to refuel and resupply ships at sea.
The new White Paper has announced that the
current capability provided by the aging supply ship
HMAS Success and the relatively new fleet oiler
HMAS Sirius will be replaced at “the first possible
opportunity.” A range of options including building
locally or overseas, or the leasing of an existing
vessel is being investigated.
As part of this evaluation process the Navy has
‘hired’ the Spanish Armada Ship, SPS Cantabria
from mid February until November 2013, while
HMAS Success is in refit. The Cantabria entered
service in 2009 and has many ship systems similar
to those being fitted to the RAN’s new LHDs and
the AWDs.
OLD PROBLEMS
The full capabilities of the major investments
made to build the new Navy will only be realised
if some problems that plagued the old Navy can
be overcome. Over the past decade problems with
maintaining the Navy’ ships became apparent,
especially in the technically advanced submarine
fleet but also in the amphibious ships – and it
seemed Navy itself was not aware of the growing
problems.
After several in-depth reviews most of the problems
were assessed as internally generated rather
than caused by underfunding or external factors.
Warships are complex vessels with complicated
systems requiring expert and skilled maintenance.
The Navy support base is now working hard to
develop the necessary deep expertise and regain
lost deeper-level maintenance skills. This will be
a protracted process but essential given that the
new LHDs and AWDs will be considerably more
advanced than their predecessors.
This re-building process may be eased by the
development over two decades of a significant ship
building industry in Australia. There is a sizeable
skilled workforce on which to call and, with
mining related construction nearing completion,
more readily available. Ship building in Australia
though is a mixed blessing. Meeting schedules
is problematic as the two-year delay in the early
stages of the AWD construction revealed.
While earlier a matter of some debate, it now
seems that there is a premium paid to build ships
in Australia compared with buying from offshore
yards. Shipyards gain expertise when building
several of the same class of ship and costs can be
steadily reduced. Australian shipyards, in building
relatively small numbers of ships, rarely achieve
an economic rate of production. The big exception
is the ANZAC class frigates; in retrospect both a
highly successful shipbuilding program and a most
useful class of ship. In thinking about the ANZAC
replacement though, the RAN is talking of big ships
more than twice their size and overall numbers will
accordingly be lower: at the moment six but given
cost growth more likely four.
The numbers of new ships and the Navy’s future
aspirations point to another dilemma. Where
will these warships’ crews come from? Navy is
acquiring ships that need more people and yet for
at least two decades the Navy has struggled to
attract and retain sailors and officers. The planed
12 new submarines will not help with this dire
situation.
left: Australian Defence Vessel (ADV) Ocean Shield sold to
the RAN in 2012.
below: HMAS Perth undergoing acceptance sea trials
following upgrades under project SEA 1448. (Defence)
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DEFENCETODAY
CGI of Australia’s new Air Warfare Destroyer.
Basing appears another difficult area. The Navy’s future surface
fleet core is its big new amphibious ships, but to be operational they
will rely on Army providing the essential landing force and ship-toshore helicopters. For historical reasons, and to utilise an existing
maintenance facility, the Navy is reticent to homeport these ships
anywhere else but increasingly crowded Sydney. However, the Army
landing force and essential helicopters will be in Townsville, with its
headquarters in Brisbane, making ongoing training and the development
of effective doctrine and tactics difficult. Moreover, the US Marines who
may be able to help with the development of an effective Australian
amphibious force are in Darwin, obviously a long way from Sydney.
The plan to homeport the LHDs in Sydney remote from half the
ships’ combat crew and the necessary helicopters seems unlikely to
ensure that the ADF gets the most effective amphibious force in the
most efficient manner. This is not an easy matter but it needs to be
addressed.
Lastly, some are thinking about a ‘national fleet’ as other government
departments like Customs build up their own maritime capabilities.
It seems that Navy does not have to do everything and could instead
focus on its key reason for being – warfighting – letting others
take on policing and constabulary functions. Government’s maritime
responsibilities could, as James Goldrick writes, “…be considered as a
whole and properly divided and shared….”
The new White Paper talks about replacing the Armidale patrol boats
so well-used in North West Australia for border security missions. This
may be a good time to transfer these current naval functions to another
Department or perhaps to a coastguard. There is no inherent reason that
Navy should forever undertake such policing roles, with the standing up
of Border Protection Command a proven multi-agency civilian command
and control organisation. A divestment of minor non-warfighting tasks
would allow Navy to concentrate on its core missions and perhaps help
address some of its well-known problems such as manning. At the end
of the day is policing immigration laws where Navy wants to be?
The Royal Australian Navy is confidently on the move bringing a whole
new range of advanced capabilities into service. There are some
important problems to overcome but none of a scale that the Navy has
not managed in earlier times. Navies are in some respects like big ships
that while slow to turn have great inertia once started. This may sum
up the RAN as it enters a remarkable period of renewal and expansion.
DEFENCETODAY
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