Page 110 - Australian Defence Magazine Dec21-Jan22

110 MAJOR PROJECTS REVIEW
DECEMBER 2021-JANUARY 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
In his From the Source interview in ADM’s April issue, Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Mike Noonan said the $3.3 - $5 billion Sea 1905/1 will deliver up to eight specialised plat- forms based on the Arafura OPV, with Second Pass approval expected in the second half of 2022 and introduction to ser- vice in 2023/24. In May, Total Marine Technology (TMT) and ECA Group signed an MoU to partner for Tranche 1 of the program, combining their expertise in unmanned tech- nologies. A Request for Tender (RFT) had been expected in late 2021, but no announcement had been made as this is- sue closed for press in mid-November.
provision of defence services to Australia related to the pur- chase of the SM-6 Block I and SM-2 Block IIIC missiles for the Hunter class frigates and, as part of the Government’s subsequent AUKUS announcement in September, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the future acquisition of BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM) for Navy’s Hobart-class destroyers.
On 21 March, Defence notified industry of a forthcoming Request for Information (RFI) for Sea 1408 - a consolida- tion of Sea 1408 Phase 3 (Torpedo Self Defence) and Sea
In January Minister Reynolds also an- nounced a $1 billion investment in ad- vanced maritime guided weapons under Sea 1300 (Navy Guided Weapons). “[The project] will provide Navy with leading- edge long-range anti-ship missiles, extend- ed range surface-to-air missile, advanced lightweight torpedoes and maritime land strike capabilities,” she said in the accom- panying release.
“AUSTRALIA WILL PARTICIPATE IN THE US ARMY’S PRECISION STRIKE MISSILE (PRSM) PROGRAM UNDER A MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING SIGNED IN APRIL”
5014 Phase 2 (Anzac Towed Array Sonar). The capability requested includes a De- pressed Towed Array Sonar for Anzac-class frigates, torpedo detection-classification- localisation, soft-kill torpedo countermea- sures, and an anti-torpedo ‘hard kill’ capa- bility for both the Anzac-class vessels and the three Hobart-class destroyers.
Navy’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capability also recorded a significant mile- stone in March, with the selection of five companies - BAE Systems Australia, In- situ Pacific, Northrop Grumman Australia, Raytheon Australia, and Textron Systems progress to the next phase of the Block 1
Although the Evolved Sea Sparrow, SM-2
and SM-6 missiles were named, the release
also mentioned a future land strike missile
with a range ‘in excess of 1,500 km’, but no details were pro- vided. Sea 1300 is a weapons ‘program of programs’ consoli- dating several previous projects and part of the government’s $24 billion investment in maritime weapons over the next two decades. In May the US State Department approved the
BELOW: The contenders for Land 400 Phase 3are the Hanwha Defense Australia Redback and the Rheinmetall Defence Australia KF41 Lynx
Australia – to
of Navy’s Sea 129/5 (Maritime Unmanned Aircraft System Continuous Development Program) competition.
Block 1 will see UAVs operate from Arafura-class OPVs and Anzac-class frigates, while Block 2 will expand the ca- pability to other ship classes from 2029 and Block 3 will up- date all systems from 2034. Then acting Defence Minister Marise Payne also noted on 24 March that further oppor- tunities will be available in forthcoming blocks, from 2024.
One of the most momentous announcements in Aus-
DEFENCE