Page 80 - Australian Defence Magazine May 2022

80 SEAPOWER FRIGATES
MAY 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
ON THE RECORD – HUNTER-CLASS UPDATE
Since ADM last analysed the Navy’s Hunter-class frigate program in our October 2021 issue, the project has achieved some significant milestones but also received stinging criticism in mainstream media in the wake of a leaked engineering report.
NIGEL PITTAWAY | MELBOURNE
LIKE other major defence acquisition programs – the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and ill-fated Attack-class submarine being but two recent examples – the $35 billion Sea 5000 (Future Frigate) program is a large target for detractors. The most recent attack seems to have originated within either Defence or Government, with the leaking of an in- ternal engineering risk assessment to mainstream media and, despite a quick response from Government, Defence and industry to reassure the public that all is well, public perception is often hard to change.
RECENT MILESTONES
On 10 February, BAE Systems announced the Hunter pro- gram had successfully completed a year-long System Defi- nition Review (SDR) - which is a major engineering review intended to define how the Australia-specific requirements integrate into BAE Systems’ Global Combat Ship design.
The SDR was conducted by BAE Systems’ engineering teams in both Australia and the UK and considered engineer- ing challenges such as the integration of CEA’s CEAFAR2 phased array radar, Lockheed Martin Aegis Combat System and MH-60R helicopter and Saab’s Australian Interface.
“Its objectives were to enable the declaration of a baseline for the ship and to agree the mission system specifications. We came out with a view that it’s a balanced design and it meets the performance criteria,” explained BAE Systems Maritime Australia Managing Director Craig Lockhart.
The Hunter-class design is now undergoing a Prelimi- nary Design Review (PDR) process, which is a technical assessment to ensure it will be operationally effective and due to be completed in the middle of next year. Following the successful completion of the PDR, the detailed design process of the ship can commence.
On the production front, BAE Systems has successfully