Page 10 - Australian Defence Magazine Dec19-Jan20

10 NEWS REVIEW INDUSTRY UPDATE
DECEMBER 2019 – JANUARY 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
LHDS DECLARE FINAL OPERATIONAL CAPABILITY
THE RAN’s Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) flagships HMA Ships Adelaide and Canberra have achieved final operational capability.
At 230-metres long and with a speed of more than 20 knots, the 27,500 tonne ships are home-ported at Garden Island, Sydney. Each ship has the ability to support six heli- copters, and four small landing craft which are able to carry Army’s M1A1 main battle tank following recent upgrades.
Minister for Defence Senator Linda Reyn- olds said HMA Ships Adelaide and Canberra are ready to be deployed on amphibious op- erations such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and amphibious warfare.
“The ADF’s amphibious capability is an integral part of Australia’s strategic pos- ture and this milestone is another step in Navy’s roadmap to delivering amphibious excellence,” Minister Reynolds said.
The ADF’s amphibious capability is an integralpartofAustralia’sstrategicposture Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Michael Noon- an said Navy is closer to achieving a resil- ient, sustained and integrated Navy, as out- lined in the Plan Pelorus strategy for 2022.
“As we transition to a more technologically advanced Navy, our goal is to be capable of conducting sustained combat operations as part of a Joint Force,” VADM Noonan said.
The LHDs are sustained by Naval Ship Management, a joint venture between UGL and Babcock, under a $1.5 billion contract awarded in December 2018.
The journey to FOC has not been without hiccups, notably when HMAS Adelaide was dry-docked at Fleet Base East after RAN observed the migration of oils across seals and tiny metal particulates in the propul- sion pods’ lube oil. Oils of different viscosi-
ties were also found to have mixed within thepodsofbothships.Therootcausewas thought to be wear issues in bearings.
Defence reached a settlement with Na- vantia in April and the ships now operate ‘free of significant issues’. ■
ABOVE: Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Michael Noonan welcomes home HMAS Canberra.
CEATAC AND CEAOPS RADARS FOR LAND 19 PHASE 7B
EWEN LEVICK | SYDNEY
ON November 15, the Commonwealth an- nounced that Canberra-based CEA Tech- nologies would be providing radars for Ar- my’s short-range ground-based air defence capability in a contract worth $137 million.
The vehicle-mounted radars will be adapted from Active Electronic Scanning Array (ASEA) radars, identified as a Sov- ereign Industrial Capability Priority for Defence, that are already in RAN service. They will be delivered in long- and short- range variants, with the short-range variant to be mounted on Thales Hawkei vehicles.
The Short-Range Ground Based Air De- fence (SRGBAD) Capability being acquired under Land 19 Phase 7B is the inner layer
LEFT: The CEATAC radar on show at Land Forces 2018.
of the land-based component of the Inte- grated Air and Missile Defence program, which is acquiring an enhanced version of the National Advanced Surface to Air Mis- sile System (NASAMS) from Raytheon.
A Defence spokesperson confirmed further details of the contract to ADM, revealing that seven CEATAC and three CEAOPS radars will be delivered from Q3 in 2021. The program is aiming for Initial Operating Capability (IOC) in Q2 2023 and Final Operating Capability (FOC) in 2025.
No additional orders are planned, al- though the contract contains the option to purchase more.
The contract announcement means the CEATAC radar passed 12 months of risk mitigation activities that tested its techni- cal compatibility with NASAMS. ■
JULIAN KERR
DEFENCE