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Dec 17, 2016
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ITS Carabiniere starts ‘Italian industry showcase’ deployment
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Italian Navy’s Bergamini-class frigate ITS Carabiniere docked at the Port of Colombo in Sri Lanka on December 11.

The FREMM frigate is on a deployment to Australia and South East Asia during which it will, among other duties, serve as a platform for promoting the Italian industry.

More specifically, Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri is financing this deployment as the company is looking to promote the frigate design to the Australian Navy.

The shipbuilder is currently bidding to design and build nine, new frigates for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and was short-listed by the Australian government together with two other European shipbuilders, BAE Systems and Navantia.

Apart from Fincantieri, Leonardo, MBDA and Telespazio are some of the Italian companies taking part in this promotion of the Italian industry.

ITS Carabiniere sailed out of La Spezia, Italy on December 20 and, after crossing the Suez Channel docked in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on December 27. The channel crossing was the third one for the frigate with previous two taking place during the frigate’s deployment to the counter-piracy operation Atalanta off Somalia in 2015.

The ship is scheduled to stay at Colombo Harbour until January 14.

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Australia is looking at options to influence development of Raytheon's

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(NGJ) by possibly entering into a cooperative agreement with the US Navy (USN), a senior Australian official revealed.

Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) director general of capability planning at Air Force Headquarters, Air Cdre Mike Kitcher, said the NGJ will be a key component of Project Air 5439 Phase 6, a further step in Australia’s Boeing EA-18G Growler airborne electronic attack acquisition programme.

‘Phase 6 is looking at upgrading the current Growler capability to the US Navy-common Advanced Growler capability, and one of the key components of that is the NGJ suite of jamming pods to replace the existing ALQ-99 pods,’ Kitcher said.

‘We’re working hard with the US Navy, looking at options as to how we might enter into a co-development programme with elements of the Advanced Growler capability as well,’ he continued.

Australia is acquiring 12 Growlers under Air 5439 Phase 3, and Australian crews have been working up with USN Growler squadrons ahead of the first aircraft arriving in Australia in February.

Although largely similar to USN aircraft, RAAF Growlers have the added ability to use Raytheon’s

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targeting pod and AIM-9X air-to-air missiles. Initial operational capability is due in mid-2018.

A further initiative under consideration for the Advanced Growler capability is integration of CEA Technologies’ phased-array radar into a future Advanced Mobile Threat Training Emitter System (MTTES). In December Australia announced a Foreign Military Sales purchase of an initial MTTES capability under Air 3021 Phase 1.

‘The US test community has bought CEA Technology radars, largely for F-35 testing, and I think there is potential for other elements of the US forces to look at adopting our Advanced MTTES system,’ Kitcher said.

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Keating issued a public statement on Friday, castigating Tillerson for his recklessness.

“When the US Secretary of State-designate threatens to involve Australia in war with China, the Australian people need to take note,” Keating said.

[....]

“We should tell the new US administration from the get-go that Australia will not be part of such adventurism, just as we should have done on Iraq 15 years ago. That means no naval commitment to joint operations in the South China Sea and no enhanced US military facilitation of such operations.

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Australia’s Future Submarine Programme is making good progress with construction set to begin in 2022.

Australia’s A$50bn ($38bn) future submarine programme to provide a state-of-the-art replacement for its current Collins-class that will last far into the century stands as the country’s largest and most expensive defence acquisition programme to date. With the six existing vessels scheduled to leave service in the 2030s, the quest for a replacement began in 2007 and by 2009, it was announced that twelve new vessels would be built, doubling the number of the fleet.

A number of options and possible suppliers were mooted and considered in the intervening years, and for some time a direct purchase of Soryu-class submarines from Japan seemed to be on the cards, in the wake of Tokyo’s shift in defence export policy. Ultimately, however, in early 2015 the then-Abbott government implemented a ‘competitive evaluation process’ which was finally to see French shipbuilder DCNS win out over the two rival German and Japanese designs.

Fast pace
It is an ambitious project and calls for the concept design to take place between 2017 and 2018, followed by a preliminary design phase until 2021, with detailed work going on into 2024, overlapping the start of construction in 2022. The first sub is scheduled for completion in 2030, and after operational testing and evaluation, is expected to enter service around 2033.

This 17-year chronology, however, hides the fact that since that award in April 2016, things have already been moving on apace. In September, Lockheed Martin was selected as the combat system integrator for the future submarines and in November, DCNS Australia signed up to explore supply chain opportunities with the Indigenous Defence Consortium (IDC). These are both significant steps in their own right. Lockheed Martin getting the nod over Raytheon, which had done the work on the existing Collins class, means that Australia will be using the same system provider as the US Navy, boosting potential interoperability, and the IDC agreement was its first since its foundation in March 2016.

Also in November the first of a number of planned joint briefings by the Commonwealth of Australia, DCNS and Lockheed Martin for local companies took place in Adelaide, with the next set for Sydney in February.

Next steps
Alongside these and other moves to identify Australian industry capability, a range of other key tasks are also underway, including detailed programme planning, preliminary design activities and ongoing work to facilitate the necessary transfer of technology. In addition, DCNS says it is currently developing subsequent agreements and contracts to execute the full design process, and this is expected to extend to the mid-2020s.

The company is also currently planning the build, test and integration facilities and infrastructure necessary to support the construction of submarines in Australia, although at the time of writing, DCNS says details of the precise build, and by whom it will be done, are yet to be confirmed.

Combat systems laboratory
For its part, Lockheed Martin Australia (LMA) is already close to completing a new Combat System Architecture Laboratory at Endeavour House in the company’s South Australian Headquarters in Adelaide. “We are in the process of finalising construction and security requirements and it is planned to open in Q1 2017,” a Lockheed spokesperson says.

The laboratory includes a reconfigurable submarine command centre, where the Royal Australian Navy’s operational concepts can be tested and validated in a simulated environment. According to Lockheed Martin, the benefit of establishing a combat system lab alongside the early submarine design phase was one of the key lessons learned from its success with the US Navy’s Virginia-class programme, helping to reduce risk and minimise development costs.

“There will be a design and mobilisation period in 2017 where LMA will work with the Commonwealth and DCNS to fully understand requirements and ensure appropriate planning and resourcing can take place to support the Combat System Integration to the Future Submarine Program,” says the spokesperson.

The laboratory will provide the design and collaboration space throughout this period.

‘Crown jewels’ of technology
It all adds up to an impressive start to the programme to provide Australia with what is said to be the most advanced conventionally powered submarine in the world – the Shortfin Barracuda Block 1A.

Although the design takes the French Navy’s Barracuda class as its starting point, DCNS is clear to point out that, contrary to some of the impressions given in the media, it is not converting a nuclear design to a conventional. The Australian Future Submarine, the company says, is something new, specifically tailored to meet the Royal Australian Navy’s requirement, which will feature the re-use of technologies from the Barracuda when and where appropriate.

It means that the new Shortfin Barracuda will benefit from what has been described as the ‘crown jewels’ of French submarine design know-how, and marks the first time that such sensitive and protected submarine technology has ever been offered to another nation.

Pump-jet propulsion will enable the submarine to move more stealthily than a propeller-driven submarine, and retractable hydroplanes will further reduce drag and noise, providing superior acoustic performance, while best-in-class sonar technology will give superior detection capabilities.

The design is intended to give Australia the lead over any regional adversary now, and built-in quick access tech insert hatches will allow the necessary upgrades to be easily made as required to ensure it keeps that edge into the future.

Developing sovereign capability
Arguably one of the most important steps in the whole programme will be to involve Australian industry to help construct the submarine fleet and then sustain it in the long term. DCNS says it is committed to seeing a sovereign industrial capability in submarine technology being developed over the coming years that will create huge employment opportunities across the whole country.

The first stages of this are already underway, with hundreds of potential suppliers already having expressed an interest, and over 25 companies passing the first audit in DCNS’s pre-qualification process for the future submarine supply chain. As the programme rolls out, DCNS also plans to create five centres of excellence which will boost career opportunities in fields such as composite materials, hydrodynamics, hull material and welding, marine corrosion and energy optimisation.

It is a vision of the future shared by Lockheed Martin Australia. LMA intends to work with many Australian companies, including Thales and Saab, with which it collaborated in the submarine combat system architecture laboratory initiative, to provide the technical capacity needed to support the Future Submarine Programme. The Lockheed spokesperson says its involvement will mean investment in engineering, project management and other high-technology industries in Australia, and is likely to create some 200 skilled jobs during the design and build phases of the project, as the company integrates the combat system in its dedicated Adelaide facility.

Industry interest
There seems to be no shortage of interest from potential partners. November’s inaugural briefing in Adelaide was attended by over 450 Australian companies, R&D and educational institutions and DCNS says it has been busy talking to hundreds of possible suppliers and has already responded to more than 600 requests for information. With the roll-out of similar briefings across Australia and its office in Adelaide due to become operational in the first quarter of 2017 as the leadership team assembles with its initial 50-strong staff, that interest is almost certain to grow.

Thus far, all the signs seem positive, and with the construction of the first new Shortfin Barracuda not due to start until around 2022, Australia has the time to develop the kind of supply chain and support network that will take its new submarine industry through this century and beyond.

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2017 will be a busy year for the Royal Australian Navy’s aircraft maintenance and flight trials unit which has seven first of class flight trials scheduled before September.

The unit, along with Royal Australian Air Force’s aircraft research and development unit, and Army aviation test and evaluation squadron represents the Australian Defence Force’s core test and evaluation capability for aircraft.

Officer In charge of Navy’s unit, Commander David Hutchinson said, that during 2016, the team completed first of class flight trials for the ScanEagle unmanned aerial system on HMAS Choules.

They also completed Chinook CH-47F trials on the amphibious ship or Landing Helicopter Dock HMAS Adelaide. The Army helicopter has now been cleared for use should it be required for humanitarian aid and disaster relief operations.

“It’s been a busy year, but 2017 is shaping up to be even busier,” he said.

“We’ve already started preparing for first of class trials for both the Multi Role Helicopter MRH-90 Taipan and the MH-60R Seahawk ‘Romeo’.”

The MRH-90 replaced Navy’s Sea King fleet and Army’s Black Hawks, while the MH-60R is the Navy’s next generation submarine hunter and anti-surface warfare helicopter.

“In January we embark in HMAS Melbourne for the start of the Romeo trial in the Adelaide class of guided missile frigates,” Commander Hutchinson said.

“In late February, the Romeo team move onto HMAS Canberra and join their Tiger and MRH-90 compatriots to continue the Landing Helicopter Dock first of class trial.

“From February to April, we’ll have the Eurocopter Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter ARH, MRH-90 and MH-60R all onboard the Canberra class ambhibious ships conducting first of class flight trials,” Commander Hutchinson said.

“Mid-year, the MRH-90 will conduct first of class flight trials in the Anzac class and in August we’ll have the unmanned aerial systems on the Adelaide class to conduct vertical take offs and landing trials.

“Finally in September we’ll run first of class flight trials on the EC-135 T2+, the new military training helicopter that will replace the Squirrel,” Commander Hutchinson said.

“We’re at the coal face of Navy working to becoming a more agile, integrated network and potent force.”

Each first of class flight trial is unique, which Commander Hutchinson said keeps the unit on their toes.

“Navy hasn’t got any experience with vertical take off and landing, so the unmanned aerial systems trials in August will be valuable. We aren’t walking into it thinking it will be a box ticking exercise. We’ve also never taken a Tiger helicopter to sea before,” he said.

“For the Romeos we’re expanding on the ship helicopter operating limits they have at the moment and we’re looking to provide a lily pad capability for the MRH-90 on the Anzac class,” Commander Hutchinson said.

Located at Naval Air Station, Nowra, aircraft maintenance and flight trials unit is responsible to Commander Fleet Air Arm, Commodore Chris Smallhorn, who said the unit primarily test Navy rotary wing aircraft but also army helicopters at sea.

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French, Australian Schools to Perform Joint Research for Sub Program
By: Pierre Tran, January 17, 2017
PARIS — Flinders University, based in Adelaide, South Australia, and four top French engineering schools signed a cooperation agreement on research tied to Australia’s Future Submarine Program, the five academic partners said Tuesday.

“Flinders University and four of France’s leading graduate schools of engineering will today enter into an academic and research cooperation agreement relating to Australia’s Future Submarine Program,” the institutes said in a joint statement.

French universities ENSTA ParisTech, École Centrale de Nantes, CentraleSupélec and École Polytechnique along with Flinders signed a memorandum of understanding, which creates a “group of scientific interest.”

The MoU seeks “to foster joint research projects, student and staff exchanges, and a new wave of Australian-French innovation and entrepreneurial projects related to the Future Submarine Program to be centered in Adelaide,” the universities said.

South Australia’s minister for higher education and skills, Susan Close, and DCNS general manager on the Australian submarine program, Marie-Pierre de Bailliencourt, attended the signing, a further step in cooperation between Canberra and Paris.

“The establishment of this consortium with Flinders University will foster an exchange of knowledge between Australia and France in relation to this project, and harness some of the world’s best research minds to ensure DCNS’s vessels set the standard for technological innovation,” the partners said.

DCNS is prime contractor on the A$50 billion (US $37 billion) submarine program, which seeks to design, develop and build 12 Shortfin Barracuda Block 1A diesel-electric boats. The submarines will be built at the ASC shipyard in Adelaide.

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