{"id":21933,"date":"2015-08-07T11:00:36","date_gmt":"2015-08-07T01:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=21933"},"modified":"2015-08-07T10:15:06","modified_gmt":"2015-08-07T00:15:06","slug":"gaps-in-the-naval-shipbuilding-programme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/gaps-in-the-naval-shipbuilding-programme\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaps in the naval shipbuilding programme"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mind<\/a><\/p>\n

Andrew Davies and Mark Thompson have pointed out problems<\/a> with the Government\u2019s recently announced $89 billion naval shipbuilding programme. In an earlier piece on naval shipbuilding<\/a>, they thought the Government had \u2018the tail wagging the dog\u2019\u2014naval shipbuilding is to provide the Navy with ships, not to provide industry with work. Put more simply, politics risked being put before requirements.<\/p>\n

According to Andrew and Mark, the first question should be how many and what sort of ships Navy requires to meet our strategic and defence challenges. However, there\u2019s a gap here: it\u2019s not just the perceived naval<\/em> requirement for ships to meet our strategic and defence challenges that needs be to be identified\u2014it\u2019s the national <\/em>requirement. It loads the question to look solely at naval (or warfighting) requirements.<\/p>\n

Last year, a Senate Committee accepted a recommendation<\/a> from Anthony Bergin and I that a \u2018national fleet\u2019 approach should be considered for building the national capability for blue-water<\/em> operations. That would ensure important capability requirements don\u2019t fall down a \u2018hole\u2019 between national agencies. So far the Government hasn\u2019t responded to this recommendation.<\/p>\n

The lack of an effective ice-strengthened offshore patrol vessel in the current national fleet is an example of such a \u2018hole\u2019<\/a>. Defence doesn\u2019t want such a vessel because it\u2019s not for \u2018warfighting\u2019, while Customs sees it as beyond their current border protection requirements.<\/p>\n

Australia has one of the largest areas of maritime jurisdiction in the world\u201412.75 million square kilometres<\/a>. We are often accorded only the third largest maritime area (after the US and France), but that\u2019s because our exclusive economic zone around Australia\u2019s Antarctic Territory is excluded. \u00a0When it\u2019s included along with our approved areas of outer continental shelf, Australia may well have the largest area of maritime jurisdiction in the world.<\/p>\n

We also have a huge area of search and rescue (SAR) responsibility stretching down to Antarctica and halfway across the Indian Ocean. Every summer Australia is caught short by a lack of capability to respond to an SAR incident or law enforcement requirement in the Southern Ocean. This inability to fulfil our responsibilities is a national disgrace.<\/p>\n

A basic problem is that no-one seems to know what we want. There\u2019s no true \u2018whole of government\u2019 approach to what might be required. Andrew and Mark in their latest post even question the basic requirement for surface warships.<\/p>\n

The Offshore Combatant Vessel project (OCV) (SEA 1180) is a prime example of not knowing what\u2019s required. It\u2019s often referred to as the offshore patrol vessel (OPV) project because everyone knows that the vessel currently in mind would have no real warfighting role. The initial capability description for the OCV makes no mention of possible requirements in the Southern Ocean\u2014in fact it specifically excludes operations south of latitude 48o<\/sup> South and prescribes operations north of the Tropic of Capricorn as the vessels\u2019 principal area of operations.<\/p>\n

Current indications are that the Armidale<\/em> Class replacement may be an updated version of the Cape<\/em> Class vessels being acquired by Customs. Such vessels are unsuitable for all weather operations round southern Australia let alone in the Southern Ocean and off Antarctica.<\/p>\n

Other problems with aluminium vessels, such as the Armidale<\/em> and Cape<\/em> Class vessels, were demonstrated last year with the disastrous fire in Brisbane that destroyed HMAS Bundaberg.<\/em> A conventional steel monohull vessel, designed to Naval Ship Rules or Classification Society Rules for large steel ships, and suitable for unrestricted operations worldwide must be considered for at least some of the OCV build. Some should be OPVs suitable for operations in the Southern Ocean.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the uncertainty with the OCV project\u2019s way ahead. The 2013 Defence White Paper committed to the project as a long-term goal, but opted in the short term for an accelerated procurement of an existing design to replace the Armidale<\/em>s. With the improved border protection situation in the North that accelerated procurement has apparently been forgotten.<\/p>\n

As Andrew and Mark have noted, RAND has suggested an interim project of building OPVs<\/a>, but that would have to essentially start now, and would deliver ships for what they say, there\u2019s no obvious need. I fundamentally disagree with that view\u2014it\u2019s looking only at the naval <\/em>(ie war-fighting) requirement not the national<\/em> requirement.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a major gap in the naval shipbuilding programme that a respectable OPV isn\u2019t included. Many examples of this class of vessel can be seen around the world. They are relatively unsophisticated vessels that could easily fill the current \u2018gap\u2019 in the naval shipbuilding programme without bringing forward replacements for the Anzac <\/em>Class frigates. Even if Customs and Defence won\u2019t bid for such a vessel, the Government should direct that they be acquired. Who operates them can be determined later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrew Davies and Mark Thompson have pointed out problems with the Government\u2019s recently announced $89 billion naval shipbuilding programme. In an earlier piece on naval shipbuilding, they thought the Government had \u2018the tail wagging the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":21934,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1177,1401,304,1230,579],"class_list":["post-21933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-asc","tag-opv","tag-royal-australian-navy","tag-rand","tag-shipbuilding"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGaps in the naval shipbuilding programme | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/gaps-in-the-naval-shipbuilding-programme\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gaps in the naval shipbuilding programme | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Andrew Davies and Mark Thompson have pointed out problems with the Government\u2019s recently announced $89 billion naval shipbuilding programme. 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