{"id":29631,"date":"2016-11-23T06:00:47","date_gmt":"2016-11-22T19:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=29631"},"modified":"2016-11-22T09:25:23","modified_gmt":"2016-11-21T22:25:23","slug":"continuous-shipbuilding-uncle-sam-offers-helping-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/continuous-shipbuilding-uncle-sam-offers-helping-hand\/","title":{"rendered":"Continuous shipbuilding: Uncle Sam offers a helping hand"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The US government\u2019s largest contracted military shipbuilder, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), recently opened an office in Canberra. It seems unlikely that HII would’ve done that without encouragement from the US government, via the US Navy.<\/p>\n
At Newport News in Virginia, HII design, build and refuel all USN nuclear aircraft carriers, as well as building Virginia-class nuclear submarines (along with another US shipyard). At Pascagoula, Mississippi, they are building 35 DDG51 Aegis destroyers, as well as most LPD and LPA amphibious ships for the USN. Not only do they build USN ships but they also sustain them globally.<\/p>\n
Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne issued a typically enthusiastic media release<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u2018The fact that Huntington Ingalls Industries, one of the world\u2019s leading shipbuilders, is setting up shop in Australia is great news\u2026 HII is a world leader in defence industry, whether that be workforce development, fleet sustainment or naval vessel design and construction.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n During an interview<\/a>, Jeff McCray, vice-president business development at HII Australia was asked whether HII wanted to buy a local shipyard. He responded:<\/p>\n ‘Not at this stage. We have two major shipyards that build the vast majority of the US Navy\u2019s ships, both are in the continental US. The role we see ourselves playing is as an advisor on shipyard design and work flow management in addition to workforce development’.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n With ASC being divided into three parts<\/a>\u2014naval shipbuilding, Collins-class submarine sustainment, and shipbuilding infrastructure (read ‘construction site for Australia\u2019s Future Submarines’)\u2014has a firm like HII got a lot to offer Australia\u2019s continuous shipbuilding program?<\/p>\n For a start, Defence\u2019s $50 billion Future Submarine program is building conventional diesel-electric submarines, the Shortfin Barracuda, based on DCNS\u2019s experience and capabilities in building nuclear Barracuda subs. These are smaller than the latest US subs, but Defence might have HII consulting on shipyard layout (which the Government might opt to retain ownership of) and workflow, together with recruitment and training of suitable staff to work on this project.<\/p>\n On the shipbuilding side, the $35 billion Future Frigate design and construction occurring at Techport\u2019s site in Adelaide offers the possibility of having HII as overall project manager, supervising the shipyard and directing the activities of the chosen shipbuilder on behalf of Defence. That could also include workforce development.<\/p>\n The West Australian component of the shipbuilding program is likely to be of less interest to HII because there are already two extremely competent shipbuilders in WA\u2014BAE Systems and Austal\u2014and the design work for the offshore patrol vessels to be built there will have been completed.<\/p>\n We already have examples of experts helping us resolve Australian naval shipbuilding challenges.<\/p>\n The Winter\u2013White report<\/a> by ex-US Navy Secretary Prof Don Winter and Australian shipbuilding luminary Dr John White, though still unreleased, helped re-baseline the Air Warfare Destroyer construction project to the point where it is now meeting revised schedule and cost targets, as well as improving productivity on the second and third ships by incorporating lessons learned from the first.<\/p>\n John Coles was commissioned in 2011 by the Government to develop a plan<\/a> to improve the repair and management of Australia\u2019s submarine fleet. Defence Minister Marise Payne announced in October 2016 that his follow-up review, Beyond Benchmark<\/a> <\/em>(PDF)<\/em>,<\/em> \u2018found a remarkable improvement in the capability to successfully manage the sustainment of the Collins Class submarines’.<\/p>\n