Page 24 - Australian Defence Magazine July-August 2022

24 DEFENCE BUSINESS COLLINS LOTE
JULY-AUGUST 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
TOMAHAWK MISSILES FOR
COLLINS SUBMARINES?
JULIAN KERR | SYDNEY
In an apparently unscripted remark at the recent Indo Pacific Maritime Exposition, Rear Admiral Peter Quinn, Head of Navy Capability, disclosed that work was underway to ascertain the feasibility of equipping the RAN’s Collins-class submarine fleet with UGM-10E Tomahawk land attack missiles (TLAM).
“WE’RE doing the work to look at what it would take to put Tomahawk into those (Collins-class) ships,” he told a media briefing.
Responding subsequently to questions from ADM, a De- fence spokesperson added some detail in confirming that Defence was “working with ASC and Raytheon Australia as the Collins-class submarine platform and combat systems integration partners, and with support from the US Navy, to examine the feasibility of integrating the Tomahawk mis- sile capability in the Collins-class submarines.
“This feasibility study is expected to be concluded by mid-2023. This work is being conducted separate to the Collins Life of Type Extension Program (LOTE),” the spokesperson stated.
There’s some history to this.
INTEGRATION STUDIES
Consideration was given during the construction phase of the Collins-class in the 1990s to acquiring torpedo tube-launched Tomahawks, thus providing the boats with the capability, after minor modifications, to attack distant land targets.
This option remained under consideration until the 2009 Defence White Paper which stated that land-attack cruise missiles would be incorporated into the armament of 12 new conventionally-powered replacements for the six- strong Collins-class fleet.
However, the 2013 White Paper was silent on the 2009’s ambition to equip much of the RAN’s combat fleet – surface and sub-surface – with land-attack cruise missiles while the 2016 White Paper recommitted to 12 new regionally-supe-
DEFENCE