Page 18 - Australian Defence Magazine Dec19-Jan20

18 DEFENCE BUSINESS PACIFIC
DECEMBER 2019 – JANUARY 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
PLAN GALILEO SUSTAINMENT APPROACH LAUNCHED
KATHERINE ZIESING | SYDNEY
REAR Admiral Wendy Malcolm Head Maritime Systems in Capa- bility Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG) launched Plan Galileo at Pacific, outlining how the Group is changing the way it thinks about and undertakes maintenance for Navy’s fleets.
“Rather than being at the very end of the process, we should be considering sustainment right from the very start,” RADM Malcom said. “It should be baked into the decision-making process so that before we settle on a de- sign, we are considering how it will be sustained.
“This rolling program of works under the National Continu- ous Shipbuilding Program will necessitate a rolling program of sustainment, one that is adaptable enough to sustain an offshore patrol vessel or a frigate, a replenishment ship or a visiting aircraft carrier. If it turns up in a dockyard, we should be able to sustain it with the workforce, infrastructure and the suppliers at hand.
“I’ve named this new approach to continuous sustain- ment after the astronomer and physicist Galileo. His work fundamentally changed the way we viewed the universe by helping to prove that the Sun was at the centre of our Solar System, not the Earth. I would note at this point that I hope not to go to gaol for my views nor to be poisoned!
ABOVE: (L-R) Minister for Defence Industry, Senator the Hon Linda Reynolds, CSC, joins Head of Maritime Systems Division, Rear Admiral Wendy Malcolm, during a visit to BAE Henderson Shipyards on 7 March 2019. RADM Malcolm took the chance at Pacific to outline CASG’s new approach to RAN fleet sustainment.
“I’d like to think this new way of thinking fundamentally changes how we carry out sustainment.”
The plan will see the development of behaviours around three key themes:
1. An improved approach to Capability Life Cycle management 2. The establishment of regional maintenance centres
3. Industry engagement that drives regional hubs and delivers true sovereign capability complimentary to the National Shipbuilding effort.
“You will see an increasing use of strategic level contracts
across combat systems, across platform management and indigenous Australian technology opportunities,” RADM Malcom said. “It is also important to note that we see a specific enduring role for the ship designer through life. Indeed this element will likely be one of our first visible endeavours in changing our approach to sustainment.
“Similarly the batch build process that continuous ship- building provides will also offer us significant scope to take advantage of commonality in our vessels on a global basis. We will seek to work closely with the Shipbuilding programs to reduce the overall cost of ownership over the entire lifecycle, leverage global supply networks that can provide Navy with access to major systems, parts and support services and to ensure that those opportunities are driven into business at the local regional level.”
The Arafura patrol class boats will be the pilot program for Plan Galileo, with the approach to be rolled out across all fleets in due course. ■
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