Page 28 - Australian Defence Magazine June 2022

28 DEFENCE BUSINESS INDO PACIFIC
JUNE 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
REGIONAL MAINTENANCE CENTRE EAST ANNOUNCED
IN an announcement coinciding with Indo Pacific 2022, then-Defence Minister Peter Dutton disclosed that a new $1 billion na- val Regional Maintenance Centre (RMC) is to be built at Sydney’s Garden Island de- fence precinct.
A tender for the industry role in the fu- ture ‘RMC East’ was released by Defence
on 11 May and will close on 16 September. Evaluations will be completed in the first quarter of 2023 and contract signature is anticipated in the third quarter.
According to Plan Galileo, announced in 2020 by CASG to provide a coordinat- ed national approach to naval shipbuild- ing and sustainment, Commonwealth-led
LEFT: HMAS Canberra departs the Captain Cook dry-dock after an extended maintenance period at Garden Island
RMCs are to be developed at strategic lo- cations comprising Sydney (east), Cairns (northeast), Darwin (north) and Hender- son (west).
These will be platform agnostic, inte- grated government and industry main- tenance enterprises that will nationally co-ordinate maintenance and deliver it as regional hubs utilising common systems, standards, and procedures.
The Cairns RMC was opened in January and Dutton said RMC East was planned to be operational by mid-2024. The facil- ity would initially support the RAN’s three Hobart-class Air Warfare Destroyers and the Landing Ship Dock HMAS Choules.
Both Canberra-class Landing Helicop- ter Docks and their landing craft, one Supply-class auxiliary oiler and two An- zac-class frigates would also be considered for inclusion during the (undisclosed) ini- tial contract period.
CAMCOPTER SELECTED FOR SEA 129 PHASE 5
DISCUSSING the selection of the Schieb- el S-100 Camcopter UAS for Block One of Sea 129 Phase 5, Schiebel Pacific Managing Director Fabian Knechtl said the number being acquired had yet to be finalised but would range “between 20 and 40”.
While composite parts would be pro- duced at Schiebel’s headquarters in Aus- tria and the gearbox, engine and metal rotor would come from the company’s existing European suppliers, finding Aus- tralian suppliers was a priority, as was a facility in which Australian manufacture could be proposed for future S-100 orders in Asia.
Meanwhile Knechtl disclosed that De- fence had surprised the company with a Request for Proposal for an additional three S-100s, separate to the recent and larger or- der, for speedy delivery to the RAN’s 822X UAS test and evaluation Squadron.
The new order will supplement three S-
100s delivered to the RAN in 2018 under Navy Minor Project 1942 to provide an in- terim shipborne vertical takeoff and land- ing capability.
These are equipped with an MX-10 electro-optical infrared turret, an auto-
RIGHT: Navy is set to acquire between 20 and 40 additional S-100 Camcopters from Schiebel under Sea 129 Phase 5
matic identification system, an L3Harris Bandit tri-band transceiver, and a Mode- S ADS-B transponder. Sources at Indo Pacific confirmed that the PT-8 Ocean- watch passive radar system has been add- ed to that payload.
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