Network Centric Warfare: Sea 1442 - networking the Navy | ADM November 2011

Julian Kerr | Sydney

Four bids have been received and are being evaluated by Defence for Phase 4 of  Sea 1442, a project which will involve a major upgrade of the eight Anzac class frigates’ communications systems, including the installation of a high data rate line-of-sight (LOS) capability.

Thales Australia and Austal, teamed with Rohde and Schwarz, have confirmed they will be competing for work worth, according to the Defence Capability Plan (DCP), towards the middle of a $100-$500 million band. Although Defence will not disclose the identity of the other two contenders, they are believed to include Rafael, teamed with Defence Maritime Services (DMS), and Selex.

A shortlist is likely to be announced before the end of the year which will be followed by an Offer Definition Activity of about six months, with second pass approval anticipated towards the end of 2012 and initial Operating Capability between 2015-2017.

Phase Four will include an upgraded radio system to support wideband communications, communications management, communications switching, secure voice and tactical intercom and high data rate line-of-sight ((LOS) radio communications.

The design goal of the project is to maximise the use of IP utilising converged voice and data (eg IP packet switching, CoIP), through use of multi-band software-defined radios, with embedded crypto/modems and multi-level security technologies.

According to Peter Bull, Vice-President National Security and C4I at Thales Australia, the high data rate LOS capability will be the most technically-challenging element because the capabilities in the marketplace are not yet technically mature, although he believes they will be in two to three years’ time, when they’ll be required.

The upgrade will remove obsolescence and provide Anzac class frigates a communications system that is intended to support the life-of-type of the vessel. The high data rate LOS capability will also enable video, voice and data to be run over the networks far more cost-effectively than the bandwidth-limited capability now provided by expensive beyond-line-of-sight INMARSAT connections.

The enhancements to be provided by Phase 4 flow on from the benefits being provided under Sea 1442 Phase 3 by the RAN’s Maritime Tactical Wide Area Network (MTWAN), shipboard installation of which is now more than half complete.

Developed by Thales Australia, the MTWAN moves the RAN from an analogue communications environment to an Internet Protocol (IP) network that provides improved information flow and increased system availability.

Benefits include concurrent use of multiple networks (across different security domains) over multiple IP-based bearer systems such as INMARSAT, MASTIS, UHF, WIFI and HF, together with improved bandwidth efficiency, traffic prioritisation, and better network management.

This includes automatic fault detection, and visibility of the deployed communications networks by Maritime Headquarters.

The Fleet Network Centre can now manage services based on demand and operational needs. It can also now roll out communications patterns or patches to the networks electronically rather than by message or radio.

Although the networks that provide coalition interoperability are already resident in major RAN platforms, MTWAN facilitates use of the multiple bearers available to support those coalition networks, Defence says.

Additionally, a Subnet Relay, in accordance with Allied Communications Publication 200, has also been installed to provide LOS communications with other fitted RAN ships and allies as has High Frequency IP capability, in accordance with STANAG 5066.

As of early October MTWAN had been installed on all four FFGs, two Anzacs (Warramunga and Perth), HMAS Success, and NU Ship Choules (the former Royal Fleet Auxiliary Landing Ship Dock Largs Bay).

Work on HMAS Anzac was scheduled to begin on 11 October, and Defence says installation will take place on the remaining five Anzacs as they become available – a caveat which may see completion extended beyond the scheduled 2013 timeframe.

Thales as prime contractor for Sea 1442 Phase 3 has installed MTWAN in the FFGs, Success and Choules, but installation in Warramunga and Perth was carried out by BAE Systems Australia through the Anzac Alliance and the same company will also be responsible for HMAS Anzac.

Installation on the remaining ships will be determined on a case-by-case basis and contracted (presumably to either Thales or BAE Systems) once ship availability is confirmed.

According to Defence, installation in HMAS Manoora was postponed pending the decision taken in February for the vessel’s decommissioning. The equipment to have been installed in Manoora is understood to have been removed to a spares pool while equipment destined for HMAS Kanimbla, now also decommissioned, was sent to the UK for NU Ship Choules.

The MTWAN fit aboard Choules together with new Rohde and Schwartz radios was carried out by Thales Australia, which sent a three-strong team to Falmouth, assisted where necessary by specialists from Thales UK. The capability passed both static tests and sea trials in late September.

“There was some seriously good work getting the capability in very quickly and it wouldn’t have happened if our team and the Commonwealth representatives weren’t joined at the hip”, Bull commented.

What is still not clear is the deployment of MTWAN on the RAN’s Air Warfare Destroyers (AWDs) and Canberra-class Landing Helicopter Docks (LHDs).

Bull said Thales was in discussion with the Commonwealth and Raytheon on possible installation of Sea 1442 Phase 3 in the AWDs, but he was not aware as yet of any move to deploy the same solution on the LHDs and thus provide full commonality across the network.

IOC was achieved last December and a five year support contract under which Thales provides a range of engineering, maintenance, supply and help desk support for the system  kicked off in December as well.

Defence says the MTWAN is “meeting requirements” while Bull describes it as “robust and sailor-resistant”, with the ability to return the system to a known state by the press of a button proving valuable.

The support contract includes provision for evolutionary upgrades, something Defence says are likely to relate to architectural configuration and an increase in services through the MTWAN rather than physical fitout. This includes connectivity to new networks, internet, integration of voice, on-board training systems, and new bearers such as Wireless NINShore, the 3G network and Fleet Broadband.

Thales also believes that its Sea 1442 solution is tailor-made for the internal fit of Sea 1439 5B.2, part of the Collins class continuous improvement program. This phase includes acquisition of a high data rate satellite communications capability and replacement of the existing communications centre, and a Request of Tender is anticipated next March.  

Subject: Sea