Page 72 - Australian Defence Magazine April-May 2021

72 FROM THE SOURCE VICE ADMIRAL MICHAEL NOONAN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 106
year, will have a workforce bid from the Department, of which clearly Navy will account for a significant proportion reflecting Navy’s future workforce needs into the future.
Plan Delphinus in terms of our submarine workforce has been something that’s been in place now for about four years. We have an ambitious program to get to around about 2,300-2,400 submariners into the 2040s, which is a step change to where we’ve been in the past.
It essentially requires a consistent growth of probably about 50 submariners a year, and we are exceeding that now. In terms of submariner retention, it’s a 3.4 per cent separation rate. Unbelievable. Compared to where we were in 2007, and I speak from the experience of being the Head of Sailor Posting at that time, we were up around 25 per cent separation for submariners. So we’ve turned that around remarkably.
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multiple future maritime and joint capabilities in what that brings to not just the platform itself but to the networked force. Clearly that is exciting. Clearly it is complex, and it is a longer than usual maintenance period. The approach that we’re taking for the upgrade of the three Destroyers will be in accordance and consistent with our planned usage up- keep cycle and what we will see is that through the upgrade process there will be a period of time where there will be a DDG in extended maintenance.
What does that mean? It’s not unlike the maintenance or planned upkeep cycle we have for our submarines. There’s always a submarine in deep maintenance but that ensures that those capability upgrades that keep the capability at the leading edge will be rolled out in a planned way.
ADM: The DDG fleet is half the size of the submarine in terms of platform numbers, so you’re always going to have one out of three out of the water?
NOONAN: Yes and we would normally have one out of three in some form of usage upkeep cycle. You know, we would very rarely have three DDGs at sea. We did it last year, and thank you for publishing that great photo. But in terms of provision of that capability, the usage upkeep cycle provides for Navy to have three so we can have two available, and that’s what we will have through this upgrade period. So I have no concern about availability of the DDGs through this upgrade. We’ve already got a fantastic capability and it will be even better when the upgrades are complete.
ADM: Minehunting is assuming greater significance. When do you anticipate the RAN having a dedicated minehunting capability capable of keeping up with a Task Group or Force?
NOONAN: In terms of the current mine warfare and mine countermeasures capability, certainly through Project 1778 Phase 1, the Deployable Mine Countermeasures Project, this will provide a maritime task group with a focused mine countermeasures capability for a single mission utilising the robotic and autonomous systems that are coming into being.
I expect that Sea 1778 will achieve its initial operating ca- pability by mid this year, and this will ultimately drive our thinking and understanding and preparation for what will become the more complex systems for both the MCM fleet and the military survey fleet that will be delivered through Sea 1905. Sea 1905 Phase 1 is well advanced in terms of our shaping what that will look like. This will deliver up to eight specialised platforms which will be based on the Arafura Class OPV. These will form, ultimately, part of the task group that are able to deploy robotic and autonomous systems in bothmine warfare and military survey roles, and they will be an integral part of the task group operations going forward.
First pass approval has occurred; second pass approval will be in the third or fourth quarter next year with the in- troduction of capability in 2023/24 and IOC in the backend of 2024. So it’s well on track.
ADM: Navy has been exploring unmanned technologies for years now with only a handful of examples in service; when are we likely to see a significant investment in this space?
It doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. Navy is competing with other parts of the security sector, other parts of the defence industry sector for talent at a time when we are growing the Navy and we are becoming more technically focused. STEM can’t just be about the 18 and 19 year olds who are just about to leave school, it’s got to go way back and we’ve got to be smarter as a country in terms of defining the skills that we need in Australian de-
fence industry in particular.
The pandemic had an effect na-
tionally but I would say that the ADF and our ability to continue to work through COVID has been
remarkable. In terms of our ability to continue to operate the Navy at the very highest level, there’s been a remark- ably small impact and notwithstanding the fact that there’s been up to 2,500 ADF people associated with the govern- ment’s response to COVID nationally, we’ve still been able to maintain all of those activities that we would normally participate in.
Our international rate of activity has been no less than what it’s been in the past. Some of those international activities have been scaled down and port visits that we would normally do overseas have been reshaped because our ability to go ashore has been challenged. Sailors essentially have had the chance to stretch their legs on a wharf and that’s about it really.
ADM: When do you anticipate a start on the first Hobart class DDG Aegis Baseline 9 upgrade? Is it correct that together with Aegis lightup, each upgrade could take up to two years? How will the DDG Readying, Ready, Offset cycle take this into account?
NOONAN: The Aegis baseline upgrade will commence in 2024 and you’re correct in suggesting that it could take up to two years per ship. It’s a significant capability upgrade, it’s not simply a piece of software, it’s not simply a piece of new technology but ultimately it will enables significant and
“I WOULD SAY THAT WE
ARE INVESTING IN THAT SPACE. CLEARLY A LOT OF EFFORT HAS GONE INTO OUR THINKING AROUND ROBOTICS, AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS AND AI. ”