Page 24 - Australian Defence Magazine October 2021

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DEFENCE BUSINESS
OCTOBER 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
WILL SAAB EXPERTISE
BOLSTER THE COLLINS
UPGRADE PROGRAM?
As Defence looks to undertake a major upgrade program of its Collins-class submarines to bridge the gap with RAN’s future nuclear-powered submarine capability, one company already has a wealth of experience in this work, as ADM Senior Correspondent Julian Kerr explains.
JULIAN KERR | SYDNEY
NOW that the Future Submarine program has been scrapped in favour of a nuclear-powered alternative, as announced in September by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, increasing attention is being focused on the Life of Type Extension (LOTE) program (Project CN62 – previously Sea 1450) covering all six of the RAN’s Collins-class fleet.
Aimed at avoiding a capability gap prior to the entry into service of the nuclear-powered boats, the program will in- volve a two-year upgrade for each Collins boat on reaching 30 years of service – the first in May 2026, the others at two-year intervals – that will extend their life by 10 years and enhance their capabilities.
Although CN62 is yet to gain full approval, first pass was achieved in June and there is no doubting the program’s implementation, and its critical importance. Even if both
CN62 and the nuclear-powered submarine program adhere to current schedules, the RAN will still field only eight sub- marines until nearly 2050 unless the nuclear-powered build and introduction to service can be accelerated.
COLLINS LOTE
The LOTE will replace three of the major systems on the Collins – main motor, diesel generators and electrical dis- tribution systems. This challenging undertaking will be combined with the usual maintenance and obsolescence management of a scheduled full cycle docking (FCD) while somehow compressing both activities into the two years normally allocated for an FCD alone.
This will probably be achieved by replacing the capabil- ity insertion-type work normally included in an FCD work