Australian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

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Naval Today said:

After 14 years of naval service, HMAS Warramunga has a new home port – Fleet Base East, Sydney.

The ship was welcomed to Garden Island on 4 September by Commander Surface Forces, Commodore Lee Goddard, Command Warrant Officer Steve Downey and around 80 families of ship’s company.

Warramunga recently completed the cutting edge Anti Ship Missile Defence upgrade. She is the fourth and the latest Royal Australian Navy Anzac class frigate to complete the upgrade, which involves a major overhaul and upgrade of the ship’s sensors and weapons capability, much of it Australian.

As part of the ongoing Anzac fleet upgrade process, Parramatta’s crew left Sydney in January, for the purpose of docking HMAS Parramatta and bringing Warramunga back to capability.

While Warramunga was the fourth ship to receive the upgrade, she was the first major fleet unit to receive the new haze grey paint scheme, which will help Navy meet modern warfighting and regional environmental conditions.

Warramunga was also the first to be fitted with the new Exelis ES-3701 Electronic Signals Monitoring system. The system will significantly improve the Royal Australian Navy‘s capability to detect radars from other surface ships and aircraft.

The new system fit also provides commonality with other large warships in Australia’s fleet, as the system is also being deployed in the Canberra class amphibious ships and the Hobart class destroyers.

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Naval Today said:

German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) claims that building submarines in Australia can be as cheap as building them in Germany.

According to News Corp Australia Network, global chairman of TKMS Dr Hans Atzpodien and Australian chairman Dr John White said that the project to build 12 submarines for Australia will create a great opportunity for Australia. Around 50 thousand skilled workers coming from automotive, LNG and North West Shelf jobs would be employed on the project.

Dr Atzpodien said that TKMS offers flexible building options with three possibilities: building subs either in Germany or Australia, or a hybrid of both. He added that the hybrid would likely be the least efficient option.

The German company is competing with two other companies with a bid of $20 billion for twelve 4000 tonne submarines, with the first delivery to Australia expected around 2025. Competing alongside TKMS is the French company DCNS with their Shortfin Baracuda design, and Japan with an altered version of their Soryu-class sub.

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Pacific Sentinel said:

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 9, 2015 – Boeing [NYSE: BA] delivered the seventh CH-47F Chinook to the Australian Army on budget August 10th, three weeks ahead of schedule, supporting modernization of Australia’s cargo helicopter fleet and eventually replacing the Commonwealth’s six older CH-47D Chinooks. The seven advanced Chinooks were ordered as part of a U.S. Government Foreign Military Sales agreement with Australia in 2012.
“Boeing is committed to meeting our customers’ needs anywhere in the world with the right capability, delivered on time and cost,” said Steve Parker, vice president, Cargo Helicopters and H-47 program manager. “These early deliveries demonstrate that commitment.”

Australia has one of the most advanced and highly capable Chinook fleets in the world. Major developments on the CH-47F include a digital cockpit, an advanced communications system and new avionics. Those allow the Australian Army to operate more effectively with U.S. and international forces through the easy exchange of digital maps that facilitate coordinated responses for military and humanitarian missions. The Australian Chinook configuration also includes a new rotor brake that enables shipboard operations by actively stopping the rotor blades rather than allowing the blades to naturally ‘spin down’ once the engine is turned off after landing.

“Our CH-47D Chinooks have been real workhorses for Australia, both here and on operations overseas, and our new CH-47F Chinooks are set to be even more dependable, affordable and capable assets,” said Rear Admiral Tony Dalton of Australia’s Department of Defence. “We are very pleased with how Boeing and the United States Army have worked together to deliver this important capability to Australia ahead of schedule and on budget.”
The Australian Army’s 5th Aviation Regiment, 16th Aviation Brigade, operates the Chinooks from their home base in northern Queensland, Australia. Boeing Defence Australia will provide on-site operational maintenance support for the CH-47F aircraft, having supported the CH-47D since 2010.

Australia’s partnership with Boeing began nearly 90 years ago. Today, the country is building one of the world’s newest and most technologically-advanced armed forces with a range of Boeing platforms and services including the Chinook, EA-18G Growler, P-8A Maritime Surveillance Aircraft, F/A-18 Super Hornet, E-7 Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control System, C-17 Globemaster III and training and logistics solutions.

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Naval Today said:

Exercise Joint Strike, the inaugural Amphibious Task Group (ATG) joint fires exercise, was conducted at the Beecroft Weapons Range, in the Jervis Bay area, New South Wales.

Royal Australian Navy, Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force personnel from within the ATG conducted a week of joint fires integration. All services worked together to successfully coordinate and validate joint fires on Beecroft Weapons Range.

The Royal Australian Navy contributed with HMAS Stuart firing five-inch gun rounds, the Australian Army provided a mortar section, Joint Fires Effects Coordination Centre (JFECC) and Joint Fire Teams (JFT) from the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment, while the Royal Australian Air Force conducted airstrikes from a Hawk 127 aircraft as well ground liaison staff.

The Supporting Arms Coordination Centre (SACC) from the joint headquarters of the Amphibious Task group coordinated the exercise.

Exercise Joint Strike 2015 is a joint training activity conducted as part of the 2015 Sea Series of exercises.

The aim of the exercise was to validate joint fires procedures between the SACC, JFECC and other services and commence joint fires training in order to assist the ATG achieve Full Operational Capability in 2017

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Bltizo said:

So, Australia has a new PM... again. I wonder how this will impact their defence policy, if at all.

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FORBIN said:

Glad to see Australia have soon a true amphibious force, combined. But only a batalion remains a little low for an important operation. For begin it is yet good.

Video so fast for see but Hawk presumably no armed usually RAAF don't use her Hawk for light attack, only as trainer.

Why some sailors in the command center of the FFG have a hood and large gloves but not all ?

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