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Jura said:

sounds like French are out (despite
Mar 20, 2016
)
so I change my recommendation to: take the Italian
BAE, Fincantieri and Navantia ships on Australian shortlist

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Italy’s Elettronica will team with Australian companies to supply electronic warfare systems

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Italy’s FREMM frigates, the company said Tuesday.

Officials from Thales Australia and Daronmont Technologies visited the Italian firm to sign a cooperation deal, which would see them teaming on Elettronica’s Minerva package of EW and communications capabilities, the firm said.

Italian shipyard Fincantieri is currently competing with BAE Systems and Spain’s Navantia to supply nine frigates for the Australian Navy, with a decision expected this year.

The Elettronica deal would take effect if Australia selects Fincantieri’s FREMM, which it co-designed with France’s Naval Group and has been acquired by Italy, France, Morocco and Egypt.

The type has also been shortlisted as a candidate for the U.S. Navy’s FFG(X) program.

Australia’s Daronmont Technologies specializes in high-speed digital processing and software engineering.

Elettronica has historically been Italy’s main supplier of EW systems on aerial and naval platforms.

The team of Australian officials also visited offices of Italy’s Leonardo, which is heavily involved in providing radar, cannons and combat management systems for Italy’s FREMM frigates.

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The Royal Australian Air Force's Boeing P-8A Poseidon fleet has achieved Initial Operational Capability (IOC).

The IOC for the 737-based maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare aircraft came five months ahead of schedule, says defence minister Marise Payne.

The RAAF has taken delivery of six P-8As from an overall order book of 12. The type is operated by the No. 11 sqn. from RAAF Edinburgh.

“The arrival of the P-8A has allowed Air Force, under Plan Jericho, to develop and evolve new operating concepts, support arrangements and sustainment options," adds RAAF air marshal Leo Davies.

“These will best exploit the P-8A’s sensors and networking as part of integrated Navy and Air Force integrated Maritime Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Family of Systems."

Announced in early 2015, Plan Jericho emphasizes the seamless integration of airborne assets, as it continues to induct new platforms.

Canberra is committed to an eventual acquisition of the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton, and has hinted that it could obtain "up to seven".

The capability offered by the P-8A/Triton combination will replace the RAAF’s aged fleet of Lockheed AP-3C Orions.

Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that the RAAF has 11 in-service AP-3Cs, with five examples retired from September 2014 to December 2017.

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In the 1982 movie Conan the Barbarian, Conan laments ‘Crom is strong! If I die, I have to go before him, and he will ask me, “What is the riddle of steel?” If I don’t know it, he will cast me out of Valhalla and laugh at me.’

Conan does better than me—he ultimately solves his riddle of steel. I, however, am still struggling to understand why politicians, the media, unions and other commentators are obsessed with the amount of steel in defence projects. And not just any steel, but Australian steel.

Questions on whether defence projects are mandated to use Australian steel, and how much, are now an almost mandatory feature of Senate Estimates hearings. Australian steel isn’t only being used in equipment being built in Australia, but the Defence Department has encouraged Navantia to use Australian steel in the replenishment ships it’s building for the Royal Australia Navy in Spain, so Australian steel has been shipped to Spain. Considering that construction started using Spanish steel, we can’t make the case that the Spanish steel wasn’t suitable.

Rheinmetall has stated that the 211 Boxer combat reconnaissance vehicles it’s building for the army will use over 2,000 tonnes of Australian steel. That sounds like a lot, but how much is it?

Let’s consider a public sector comparison. Here in the nation’s capital, the territory government is building a light rail line. Its first stage will run 12 kilometres from the north-western suburban centre of Gungahlin to the city centre. All up, the project is using around 7,500 tonnes of steel between the rails themselves and steel for general construction such as rebar. So even a relatively modest infrastructure project is using a lot more steel.

If Canberrans don’t recall Chief Minister Andrew Barr proudly proclaiming that our citizens will be travelling on Australian steel, that’s because there was no requirement for the project to use Australian rails. Because of their metallurgical characteristics, the rails are sourced from Austria (although as part of the project’s environmental plan, as much of the rebar as possible is sourced from domestically recycled steel).

But 2,000 tonnes has got to be worth a lot, and must inject a lot of money into the local steel industry, right? So let’s look at what steel actually costs. The price varies by type and by producer: European steel costs around AU$700–1,250 per tonne, and US steel around AU$750–1,350 per tonne. Chinese and Indian steel is much cheaper—hence the woes of Western nations’ steel industries.

Even if we go with a cost of AU$2,500 per tonne (that is, twice that of steel from Europe or the United States), the total cost of the Australian steel in the Boxers is $5 million—or 0.1% of the project’s total budget of $5.2 billion. Granted, military equipment uses specialised alloys that may cost even more, but we still have a way to go before the cost is a major part of the budget.

But even if it isn’t a lot of money, maybe it’s a lot of Australia’s steel production? Australia ranks only 23rd in global steel production, but that’s still 5.3 million tonnes in 2018, ranging from around 390,000 to 490,000 tonnes per month. So 2,000 tonnes is only around one-seventh of the Australian steel industry’s daily production.

But what about the projects that will really use a lot of steel, like the future frigate project? That project will produce nine frigates, each of around 7,000 tonnes. According to the RAND Corporation, around 45% of a warship’s weight is steel. If we call it 50%, then that’s 31,500 tonnes of steel in nine frigates, or a bit over two days’ production.

The future frigate project is meant to cut steel in 2020 and will deliver the final ship after 2040, so that’s two days’ production spread over 20 years, or around 0.03% of Australia’s steel production. Taking our assumed cost per tonne, we get a total steel cost of around $80 million. That sounds like a lot, but its only 0.25% of the total project budget of over $30 billion.

Apparently the future submarine project is doing a steel study, so it’ll be interesting to see what conclusions it draws, if they are made public. But with the parametric cost of submarines over AU$700,000 per tonne, the cost of steel at a few thousand dollars per tonne is unlikely to be a major cost driver, even taking the specialised nature of submarine steel into account.

None of that’s to say that a healthy steel industry isn’t an important part of Australia’s economy. But using local steel in defence equipment projects won’t be the saviour of the local steel industry. Construction and other infrastructure projects will play a far greater role.

On the flip side, with steel being such a minor component of the overall cost of defence projects, the higher cost of Australian steel will make little difference to the capability outcome. Requiring the use of local over imported steel will likely not be the difference between our ability to afford eight rather than nine frigates, or eleven versus twelve submarines.

But, as with the unhelpful parochial cheerleading that now envelops defence projects, the focus on Australian steel distracts from hard discussions about what industrial and scientific capabilities Australia needs to create, produce and sustain military capability, as compared to what we can more sensibly import. There are things that are in shorter supply than steel and are more vital to the success of military capability in the 21st century—things such as software development and systems integration skills, for example.

The evil Thulsa Doom gives Conan his answer: ‘Steel isn’t strong, boy, flesh is stronger.’ So maybe one answer for us is that human capital and skills are more important than the raw materials.

Another answer to the riddle can possibly be reached by doing the following experiment. Stare into the distance, narrow your eyes slightly (into a steely glint), raise your fist and slowly intone ‘Australian steel’.

Now repeat, but instead say ‘Australian software development and systems integration’. Which sounds better? Which gives you more of a man-of-steel feeling?

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Elements of the 2018 Marine Rotational Force–Darwin (MRF-D) will begin arriving in the Top End this month to prepare for the seventh and largest rotation to date. The rotation will include 1,587 US Marines, eight MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and an artillery battery of six M777 Howitzers.

Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon Marise Payne welcomed the increased Marine rotation, which underscores the commitment of both the Australian and US Governments to the full implementation of the United States Force Posture Initiatives.

“These Initiatives strengthen the ability of Australia and the US to work together, and with regional partners, in the interests of regional stability and security,” Minister Payne said.

Since 2012, the MRF-D has been increasing in size and complexity, further enhancing the interoperability and capability of Australian and US forces.

“During major exercises the rotation will include additional equipment and assets such as AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters, UH-1Y Venom helicopters, F/A-18 Hornet aircraft and MC-130 Hercules aircraft,” Minister Payne said.

Minister Payne said the increase in personnel and capability will enable a broader range of exercises and training activities with the Australian Defence Force and other regional nations.

“During the six-month training period, the US Marines are expected to participate in 15 training activities alongside the ADF. Other regional nations, including Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and many more will also participate in or observe some of these training activities,” Minister Payne said.

“Australia and the US have a longstanding history of working together to promote peace, security and stability across the globe. Australia welcomes opportunities to work with the United States to foster greater cooperation with our regional partners.”

Minister Payne said in addition to training with the US Marines, the ADF conducts air training exercises with the US Air Force personnel and regional nations under the Enhanced Air Cooperation Initiative.

This year’s EAC activities include an aero medical evacuation training mission; 5th generation fighter integration; combat mobility activities with the US Marine Corps; undertaking integrated aircraft maintenance; and expanding air-to-air refuelling capabilities.

“Enhanced Air Cooperation activities complement and support training with the US Marines, as it increases the ability of Australia and the US to deploy into the region, where and when they are required to do so,” Minister Payne said.

“The US military plays a vital role in underwriting security and stability across the Indo-Pacific, and the Force Posture Initiatives will be an essential component in preserving stability and security over the coming decades,” she said.

The US Marines are expected to complete the rotation of training in Australia in October 2018.

For further information on the Marine Rotational Force–Darwin, visit

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The state-of-the-art anti-submarine warfare (ASW) features of BAE Systems’ Type 26 Global Combat Ship, dubbed the ‘paper ship’ by its competitors, far outweighs any risks associated with the fact it’s a new design that is yet to see service at sea, a BAE executive has argued.

Speaking on the Defence Connect podcast, BAE Systems' SEA 5000 managing director Nigel Stewart said any concerns supported by claims the Type 26 is not a proven design in service and sea proven fail to take into account the benefits of the modern design and technology aspects of frigate, as well as its design history from the proven Type 23 vessel.

"I look at it a completely different way; that we think that one of the great strengths of our ship is the fact [of] how modern it's going to be," Stewart explained.

"It's derived from the Type 23 ... So in terms of the how you operate an ASW ship, the basics of an ASW ship, we've got a fantastic pedigree there. We are de-risking a lot of the Type 26 equipment on the Type 23 in the UK, which gives us confidence."

The Type 26 vessel, one of the designs being considered by the Royal Australian Navy under the $35 billion SEA 5000 Future Frigate program, is currently in production for the UK's Royal Navy and is running five years ahead of the Australia SEA 5000 project.

If BAE Systems is selected for the SEA 5000 project, the first Australian vessel would be the fourth of class.

The first ship for the Royal Navy cut steel last year in Glasgow and is due to hit the water in 2020 while another two vessels will be in production, offering ample opportunity to de-risk the Australian project, Stewart said.

"The Australian program is running about five years behind the UK program," said Stewart. "So, full production starts in Australia in 2022. And we think that's … a perfect time scale really to make sure the de-risking happens in the UK program for the first class.

"But, we're still going to ensure we've got a really modern design, and a modern vessel to go forward in Australia. So, yes, we're looking at Australia, it should be the fourth class."

Should the vessel be selected by the government for the SEA 5000 project, Stewart said prototype testing will commence in 2020, followed by full production at Adelaide's Techport facilities in 2022.

So far, Tasmania's Liferaft Systems Australia and Victoria's Mackay Consolidated Industries have already won contracts on the UK Type 26 GCS program for the Royal Navy, as well as the Australian SEA 5000 project if BAE Systems is successful.

BAE Systems has also said

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that will transform Australia's shipbuilding industry and facilitate a transfer of intellectual property and technical data, including the digital ship design optimised for the production of the GCS.

The innovative digital shipyard will bring the "ship to life" during its service life, with intelligent systems, both on board and linked to those ashore, that will monitor the performance of the ship and its systems. The digital shipyard will also include an inventory of parts, including cost and acoustic signature, suppliers and their details.

BAE Systems also recently

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, with a recruitment strategy that will include an Early Careers Program to create a pipeline of apprentices and graduates throughout the build phase of the $35 billion project.

The UK contender will commit to apprentices in steelwork, mechanical, electrical and technical trades, who will be central to the company’s strategy to ensure the right breadth and depth of skilled workers are brought into the multi-decade program. The company is anticipating that, at its peak, the Early Careers Program will have a population of around 150 apprentices, which will continue throughout the 35-year program.

A graduate program for business and engineering students will also offer opportunities for international placements across the company’s global business.

The Type 26 vessel is up against Fincantieri's FREMM vessel and Navantia's F-5000.

A decision on the $35 billion SEA 5000 project is expected no later than June this year. The winner will design, build and sustain nine vessels that will replace the Anzac Class frigates.

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USAF B-52s are headed down under to conduct joint training with the Australian Defense Force. Up to three Stratofortresses are deploying to Royal Australian Air Force Base Darwin, where they will fly alongside RAF F/A-18A Hornets and PC-9s, along with Australian joint terminal attack controllers, according to an Australian Defense Force release. This is the fourth time B-52s have deployed to Australia for training since 2012, most recently in 2016. The B-52s will stay until mid-April, though specific dates were not provided. The aircraft are deployed to Andersen AFB, Guam, from Barksdale AFB, Guam, for the Air Force’s continuous bomber presence in the Pacific

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Jura said:

now noticed the tweet

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Good day for

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with

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in company with

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during her builders trials - shots by Graham Brand

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Jeff Head said:

... They now plan nine of those vessels and he short list is either they Type 26 UK design, or another Spanish F-100 redesign. different than the Hobart.

...

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Jura said:

some time ago
Apr 19, 2016
now Italian firm strikes electronic warfare deal in Australia ahead of frigate pick

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