Page 69 - Australian Defence Magazine October 2019

Halifax, Nova Scotia under a C$45 billion deal to replace the Royal Canadian Navy’s current fleet of 12 Halifax class and three Iroquois class destroyers. The prime con- tractor will be Lockheed Martin Canada, in partnership with BAE Systems, CAE, L3 technologies, MDA and Ultra Elec- tronics and the first steel is expected to be cut in the early 2020s.
This brings the GCS order book to 32 units (eight for the UK, nine for Australia and 15 for Canada) across three variants and the mass of the combined order pro- vides additional supply chain opportuni- ties within the three countries.
BAE Systems has already formed a GCS user group community with the three governments and three navies involved to look at a range of common issues, includ- ing supply chain management.
“BAE Systems negotiating with a sup-
plier with a 32-ship proposition perspec-
tive is a much more advantageous position
C
ordering in small batches,” Lockhart said.
“The other thing is that it really gives the supply chain some long-term certainty and
the ability to make investments.”
The prospect of increasing the GCS
family further is also promising in the
near term, with countries like Japan em- barking on ASW frigate replacement pro-
grams. The Royal NZ Navy will also need to begin replacing its two Anzac frigates in the mid-2030s, despite their current upgrade program.
ADM is also watching the US FFG(X) program closely, with the possibility that it will be rescoped and rescheduled in the future. The Hunter class ship, with its ped- igree of ASW capability, together with its state-of-the-art CEAFAR radar, US Aegis combat system, Hawklink datalink, CEC capability and US weapons, would argu- ably make a compelling reference design, should the US Navy seek alternatives to FFG(X) in its current form.
“This ship will be the most modern advanced ASW frigate in the water. The reason it won against its competitors was the unique capabilities it offered the UK, Australia and Canada for the roles that they require,” Craig Lockhart said.
“Hunter has the ability to operate as part of a global task force and it will have an interoperability with the US that is an advance of Type 26 and, as far as the CEA- FAR radar is concerned, this is a very ca- pable radar that is drawing the attention of the world’s superpowers.”
to be in, rather than individual customers
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