Page 20 - Australian Defence Magazine June 2022

20 DEFENCE BUSINESS INDO PACIFIC
JUNE 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
INDO PACIFIC 2022 – THE LARGEST YET
JULIAN KERR, EWEN LEVICK & NIGEL PITTAWAY | SYDNEY
Even though the RAN’s major acquisitions over the next few years have largely been decided – with the prominent exception of its future nuclear-powered submarine – this year’s Indo-Pacific Maritime Exhibition in Sydney was nonetheless buzzing with activity.
NAVY, C2 ROBOTICS PARTNER ON SPEARTOOTH UUV
ACCORDING to event organisers, more than 25,000 visitors attended the three-day event and the number of exhibiting com- panies rose by 12 percent over the 2019 event, to 736 – from 23 countries.
For a number of companies, the show was not just an opportunity to talk about their naval technologies, but also on other Air and Land programs currently under- way. Two particular programs, neither of which begin with ‘Sea’, appeared to domi- nate conversations at this year’s event: Air 6500 and Land 8710.
ABOVE: The 2022 Indo Pacific show was the largest in the series so far, with 25,000 vsiitors reported over the three-day event.
powerplant with a direct propeller pro- pulsion system and variable buoyancy. The four-metre variant has largely similar operational specifications.
Both variants feature a digital periscope system and a composite hull and have been designed with large and flexible payload bays that can be fitted with various types of underwater sensors and instruments.
Sea trials of both variants are taking place under tether off the coast of Mel- bourne, with no information available on when untethered trials will be conducted. A digital periscope system, will be incor- porated at a later part of their trials.
ONE of the larger surprises at Indo Pa- cific was the eight-metre Speartooth un- manned underwater vehicle (UUV) being developed by the RAN and Melbourne- based defence autonomy and electronics company C2 Robotics.
According to a member of the RAN’s Warfare Innovation Navy Branch, Speartooth development was agreed by the RAN and C2 Robotics in January.
The UUV has two four-metre vari-
ants and the eight-metre version shown at Indo Pacific, and is seen as a low-cost system that can be produced at scale, and quickly when required, and able to un- dertake a wide (but undisclosed) range of underseas missions.
According to information displayed, the Speartooth has an overall beam of one metre, an operational depth of 2,000 metres and a maximum range of 2,000 km. It is powered by a hybrid lithium-ion
ROYA GHODSI