Page 38 - Australian Defence Magazine October 2019
P. 38

PACIFIC
SHIP ZERO
“The purpose of Ship Zero is to enhance the ongoing life-cycle management of our capabilities.”
• Optimise resources to enable the con- duct of all activities and future commit- ments.
• Able to maintain a long-term presence away from home ports.
• Able to meet all domestic requirements and work closely with friends and part- ners across the Indo-Pacific region. Plan Mercator addresses the strategy for
delivering Navy Capability that meets the
• integrated air & missile defence • amphibious combat
Based on his experience in the Fleet Air Arm where asset management of aircraft is more advanced and more immediate than other branches of the RAN, VADM Bar- ret envisioned a future Navy where new vessels could be conceived, crews could be trained, and ongoing support and modi- fication could be developed through a
land-based simulation of each class of vessel. He named this concept Ship Zero. VADM Barrett described a number of lessons that led him to arrive at the concept of Ship Zero.
“Development of the train- ing facility for the MH-60R Seahawk ‘Romeo’ naval combat helicopters impressed me with the way they treated the aircraft
as just one component of an integrated combat system,” VADM Barrett said.
“I was also impressed with the Singa- pore Police Coast Guard facility, which delivers excellent training. A trainee could start as a new recruit and graduate as a fully competent crewman, ready to under- take operational tasking.
“Another motivation was our need to send people all over the country to com- plete small boat crew training. It was ex- pensive and disruptive, both to the Navy, to trainees and their families. While some Ship Zero functions may need to be vir- tual, colocation at a capability centre will eliminate most of that disruption.
“In the future, Navy must be able to achieve through-life management of the whole of fleet, including training, sustain- ment, a seaworthiness and airworthiness framework, and even pre-planning the obsolescence phase. This will help plan- ners make better decisions throughout the Capability Life Cycle (CLC). A land- based test site will greatly assist during development of new platforms. Rather than waiting until the first vessel is in the water, Ship Zero will enable Navy to start the process from the start of each new pro- gram. This more disciplined approach will help to develop more efficient and more effective capabilities and can even be used during certification,” VADM Barrett ex- plained to ADM.
“Looking forward, this may well change the way people are recruited off the street. Having a clearer pathway throughout a
needs of the Australian Government to 2036 and beyond. It encompasses logis- tics, capability programs, facilities, indus- try participation, seaworthiness, work- force and warfighting. The Plan identifies Navy’s future threat profile to include:
• informationwarfare
• theatreanti-submarinewarfare
The Arafura class OPVs will benefit from the Ship Zero concept.
38 | October 2019 | www.australiandefence.com.au


































































































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