Page 82 - Australian Defence Magazine May 2022

82 SEAPOWER FRIGATES
MAY 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
In his From the Source interview beginning on Page 120 of this issue of ADM, Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Michael Noonan also expressed confidence that the Hunter-class is on track to deliver what he describes a “world class capability”.
“There are 23 High Level Capability Requirements (HCRs) that were originally developed as a framework to assess competing reference ship designs for the Future Frigate Project,” VADM Noonan said.
and 37 minor recommendations. “I’m pleased to say that all 11 major recommendations have been successfully closed and the 37 minor recommendations have either been cancelled, closed or successfully answered as part of the review,” he said.
HUNTER CAPABILITY
Lockhart points out that the RAN’s requirements have re- sulted in a ship with much more capability than the Type 26 reference design, which is optimised for anti-submarine warfare in a north Atlantic environment.
With regard to claims in the media about performance or capability shortcomings, Lockhart said assessment work is carried out in conjunction with the Commonwealth and the required changes to the Hunter design over the Type 26 ref- erence ship – which will produce a much more capable plat- form – will result in very minor changes to performance.
“They are well within the acceptable performance range characteristics, in terms of speed. We’ve seen growth in capability from the reference ship design to Hunter and I think Navy is excited by what Batches 2 and 3 may bring, in terms of autonomous systems, electronic warfare and high- energy systems. It puts them on the very top rung of naval capability across the world,” Lockhart said.
“Whilst Hunter will still have ASW operations as its core role, it will also spend a lot of time operating as part of a task group for our broader maritime force projection require- ments, providing surface escort and air defence capabilities. It is a different ship (to the reference design) and its perfor- mance criteria has to be assessed and signed off by Navy.”
While the construction phase is still in its early in its development cycle, Lockhart says significant progress has already been made, and while a major project such as Sea 5000 will always have risks associated with them, he says the program is presently in good shape.
“Hunter is making very good progress: if we look back to where we were two and a half years ago, since then we’ve built a new shipyard, stood up a workforce, and delivered significant amounts of technology transfer – over 100,000 artifacts from the reference ship program,” he said. “We now proving that the quality we can achieve through that yard is world class. I think Navy will get a capability that sets us aside on the world stage. Yes, we’re facing risks in design integration but that’s a normal shipbuilding program.” ■
“UNDER THE REVISED
SCHEDULE, STEEL FOR THE FIRST HUNTER-CLASS
“The HCLRs have not changed and continue to be used as a guide to design and monitor the delivery of capability. In 2022, the HCLRs remain unchanged as the key deliv- erables of the Hunter-class Frigate
SHIP IS EXPECTED TO BE Project and continuous naval ship-
building of surface combatants.” VADM Noonan adds that the Hunter-class will have “sufficient range and endurance” to operate effectively throughout the region. “The Hunter was selected as the capability best suited for Australia’s requirements on the basis that it offers a superior anti-submarine warfare capability matched with government mandated requirements to include Australian
and US sensors and weapons,” he added.
From an industry perspective, BAE System’s Craig Lock-
hart says that the recently-completed SDR produced 11 major
RIGHT: Defence has confirmed the full displacement weight of the Hunter-class ships will now be around 10,000 tons, compared with 8,800 tons for Type 26 reference design
ABOVE: BAE Systems Maritime Australia Managing Director Craig Lockhart says the recent SDR confirms the RAN’s Hunter-class frigates is a balanced design
CUT IN 2024”
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