Page 158 - Australian Defence Magazine October 2019

FROM THE SOURCE
REAR ADMIRAL PETER QUINN
Continued from page 156
recently. Has that progressed or is it being fixed? And how is the transition journey with the DDGs and the Romeo Helicopters going?
QUINN: The MRH-90 did have an is- sue in July with the tail rotor. There’s a fix that had been already under develop- ment that’s being implemented and the fleet is being returned to full operational capability. The MRH-90 is an Army lead, but we share a common helicopter and we use the Taipan as our maritime support helicopter in our support and amphibi- ous ships, where it is performing strongly (Editor’s note: six of the 46-strong MRH- 90 fleet is used by Navy, with Army as the Capability Manager).
The Romeos are a real success story. We’ve got 24 MH-60 Romeos, all of them in service now. Navy is regularly generat- ing up to eight Romeo flights at sea, so that’s going very, very well. The support system is in place and those helicopters are going from strength to strength. Strong ASW capabilities, strong anti-surface war- fare capability and a bunch of those 5th Generation technologies I talked about with advanced data links and sensors.
We’ve now completed the Romeo heli- copter upgrades to two of the Destroyers – Sydney, which we did in build down at Osborne, and now Hobart. So they’re fully fitted out for the Romeo capability and can fully integrate and utilise that amaz- ing helicopter.
And we’ve already completed the up- grades for the Anzac class to make the most of what the Romeos have to offer. Romeos are generating a capability for the fleet that has been a huge step change from the S-70 Seahawks that we had beforehand.
ADM: The Arafura, Hunter and Attack Class builds; what would you say are the likely stress points for these programs as they unfold?
QUINN: They’re going well and we’re achieving our milestones. For the Arafuras we’re slightly ahead of schedule, and for what is an accelerated program, I’m impressed.
Looking a bit further forward, the ship- building facilities are coming along well, but Australia as a nation has a steep ramp to climb to build the workforce we require to produce and sustain the new OPVs, frig- ates and submarines. But the good news is that we’re approaching this challenge as a truly national endeavour and there
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