Page 6 - Australian Defence Magazine Nov 2018

NEWS REVIEW
INDUSTRY UPDATE
Parliament releases report into Defence MPR
• outcomes of the sea trials for the LHD Landing Craft within three months of tabling the Committee’s report.
The Committee also noted that the
ARH Tiger Helicopters were the cause of a second qualified audit finding in a row.
“While it is encouraging that two re- maining caveats are expected to be resolved within the next 18 months, the Tiger He- licopters project will remain on the MPR into the future and this project will con- tinue to receive close scrutiny,” the Com- mittee said.
The 2016-17 MPR has a total approved budget of approximately $62 billion, cov- ering nearly 59 per cent of the budget within the Approved Major Capital In- vestment Program.
The MPR reviews risks, challenges and complexities facing major projects in gener- al, as well as the status of the selected major projects in terms of cost, schedule and fore- cast capability.
The MPR is developed by Defence in conjunction with the ANAO and its ob- jective is to improve the accountability and transparency of Defence acquisitions for the benefit of Parliament and other stakeholders.
The MPR is automatically referred to the JCPAA, Parliament’s joint public adminis- tration committee, in accordance with its statutory obligations to examine all reports of the Auditor-General. The JCPAA has the power to inquire into all expenditure of Commonwealth money.
THE Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit has tabled its report into the 2016- 17 Defence Major Projects Report (MPR).
Committee Chair Senator Dean Smith said that this year’s MPR reviewed risks, challenges and complexities facing major projects in general, as well as the status of 27 selected major projects in terms of cost, schedule and forecast capability.
“Every year the Department of Defence and the Australian National Audit Office work together to produce a consolidated re- view of selected major Defence acquisition projects, with the resulting report called the
Major Projects Report, or MPR,” Senator Smith said.
The Committee’s report makes three recommendations aimed at continuing to drive improvements in transparent report- ing of Defence major project expenditure, recommending that Defence report on:
• progress in updating Project Maturity Scores within three months of tabling the Committee’s report;
• a methodology which shows how acquisi- tion projects can transition from spread- sheet risk registers to tools with better version control measures; and
First Japanese lithium-ion equipped sub launched
JAPAN has launched the first Soryu-class diesel-electric submarine equipped with lith- ium-ion batteries in a first for the program.
According to the Nikkei Asia News, the Oryu was christened with a bottle of sake before being launched into the water at Mit- subishi Heavy Industries’ Kobe shipyard.
The 84-metre long Oryu is the eleventh submarine of the Soryu design, and the first to replace the previous lead-acid batteries with lithium-ion batteries supplied by GS Yuasa. The new batteries are reported to store twice the power as the older lead-acid batteries, rep-
resenting a significant increase in the length of time the submarine can spend submerged.
Reports suggest the Oryu can
reach speeds of 20 knots, with a displace- ment of 2,950 tonnes. It is slated for deliv- ery to the Japenese military in 2020.
The Soryu class were overlooked for Australia’s Collins replacement in 2016 in favour of French Shortfin Barracudas built by Naval Group, in what was at the time re- garded as a blow to relations between Can- berra and Tokyo. The Soryus were regarded
as the favourite prior to a leadership spill in the Coalition government.
In recent months, the Abe government of Japan has been under pressure from Washington to buy more US military equipment. In this regard, the integration of Japanese batteries onto an indigenously- developed submarine is a statement of ca- pability independence.
6 | November 2018 | www.australiandefence.com.au
JAPAN MARITIME SELF DEFENSE FORCE
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