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When first mooted, the program to replace the Anzac class of frigates with another, more modern version, aka the Future Frigate, might have been seen as something of a blank canvas.

But in fact there has been sufficient information in the various DCPs, and elsewhere on the SEA 5000 project, to enable reasonably informed judgements to be made about the ship type and size, its role and thus its combat and defensive systems, sensors and to some extent the other systems concerned with ships management, propulsion, signature and so on. It is likely that the upcoming (2015) Defence White Paper will have a final say on their number since there is some confusion as to how many future frigates are needed to replace eight Anzac class FFHs.

The 2009 Defence White Paper had indicated eight Future Frigates would be acquired; however in January last year (2013) at the AUKMIN conference, then Defence Minister Stephen Smith told his UK counterpart that Australia would be acquiring only six Future Frigates.

Future Frigate platform design
What sort of a ship does this country need as a replacement for the Anzac Class?

One can safely assume that it will broadly conform to new and emerging concepts in the design of naval frigates of around 5000-7000 tonnes entering service by the 2020s or even earlier. These concepts include new developments in hull design, stealth, propulsion systems, sensor technologies, communications, offensive and defensive systems, computerised management systems, sustainability and so on.

There is an assumption that as we pass the 20-teens and head beyond 2020 the ADF of 2030 will need to be a more potent force in certain areas, particularly anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and surface maritime warfare (including air defence at sea). It must also be fully conversant with the means for electronic attack and cyber defence. It should be noted here that the US Navy has been ramping up its cyber war capabilities that may well show the way ahead for the RAN, whose concerns on this, growing front have not been especially evident.

As far back as 2011 solicitation for the US Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command $98 million contract went out. Announced more recently, were contracts awarded to 14 small companies for ‘Integrated Cyber Operations support’. According to the solicitation, integrated cyber operations include ‘computer network defence, computer network exploitation, and computer network attack.’

The solicitation defines network attacks as: ‘Actions taken through the use of computer networks to disrupt, deny, degrade or destroy information resident in computers/computer networks or the computers and networks themselves.'

Beyond that the US Navy, USAF and US companies are ‘reserved’ in their discussions on systems that can deliver ‘tailored data  streams’ for electronic attack and cyber -invasion, i.e. a weapons system that can direct cyber effects into a radar/communications system, are likely to be well advanced. Such data streams can be fired into an antenna that ISR indicates is integrated with a target network.

While the Future Maritime Operating Concept 2025 (FMOC 25) sees the future maritime force as being prepared to contribute to conventional coalition combat operations at potentially high tempo and levels of threat during the next two decades and that it should also be prepared to contribute to combat operations against insurgent groups, including groups employing maritime terror tactics, it has little to say about cyber warfare.

And while the engagement grid should include use of lethal and non-lethal systems, the FMOC 25 acknowledges the obvious - that the capability to strike targets at sea and ashore is enhanced through the availability of systems with increased range, speed, precision and responsiveness.

UK Type 26
So how will the Future Frigate shape up against this backdrop?  The UK’s Type 26 Global Combat Ship design appears to be a leading contender for the SEA 5000 requirement with the possibility that the RAN may have some input into the design. When UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond visited Australia last year for the Australia-UK Ministerial talks he and then Defence Minister Stephen Smith agreed to explore the possibility of co-operation over mutual design work for the Royal Navy’s new Type 26 Global Combat Ship – a design that could meet the needs of the Royal Australian Navy.

Type 26 designer BAE Systems’ original working baseline reportedly involved a 140m, 6850-tonne ship, but reductions in target cost led them to publish figures of 148m but just 5400 tonnes. Current plans state a top speed of 28+ knots, with 60 days endurance and a range of 7000 miles/ 11,000 km) at normal steaming speed of 15 knots/ 28 kmh. The crew would number some 118, with room for 72 embarked troops.       

With Main Gate 1 (somewhat akin to our First Pass) approved earlier, BAE Systems has already begun to select key systems suppliers for its design, however should this country decide to select the Type 26 design for its Future Frigate it will be thoroughly ‘Australianised’ in terms of the choice of ships systems such as propulsion, combat system, weapons, communications, and so on.

At this stage in the development of both the RAN’s Future Frigate and the RN’s Type 26 concept frigate, there is one aspect that particularly favours a collaborative RAN/RN program – the schedule. BAE Systems has indicated that the aim is to deliver the first Type 26 frigate in 2021 well ahead of the planned Initial Operational Capability (2028-29) for the RAN program.

But while Australian official (and commercial) interest in the UK Type 26 program has been ongoing and may eventually bear fruit, there is no indication at this stage that such will be the case. And the Type 26 concept is not the only design with development and build timelines in broad harmony with SEA 5000 planning.

Three years ago Navantia unveiled its 5000-tonne F2M2 trimaran guided-missile frigate (FFG) design, which has a length of 140 metres, beamwidth of 30 metres, draught of 5 metres, and a displacement of 4000 metric tonnes. French shipbuilder DCNS has proposed its ADVANSEA (ADVanced All-electric Networked ship for SEA dominance) as a concept aimed at meeting the needs navies are likely to face in the 2025s.

Future combat system
SEA 5000’s first phase was aimed at defining the project requirements for a multi-role Future Frigate indicating that a number of funded studies would explore the ship platform, combat, and support system options to provide the ADF with an affordable replacement for the ANZAC Class.

With a strong emphasis on ASW, scope would include an integrated sonar suite with a long-range active towed array, and an ability to embark and support a combination of Naval Combat Helicopters and maritime Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). It also noted that the 2009 White Paper had stated that a land attack cruise missile capability would be fitted to the Future Frigate in addition to the AWD and Future Submarines.

Phase 1A is for the development of a high-power phased array radar demonstrator based on the Australian CEAFAR Radar installed as part of the ANZAC class Anti-Ship Missile Defence (ASMD) upgrade. Thus the Future Frigate will be equipped with more powerful versions of the radar and missile guidance and tracking systems derived from that very successful upgrade.

The combination proved so successful in conjunction with Saab Australia's 9LV Mk3 C2/fire-control system, that the same - or the Mk4 improved Combat System – could be a given for the future frigate as may also be those systems that Saab Australia incorporated into its ASMD solution. These include the CEROS 200 radar/ electro-optic fire-control director (comprising radar tracker, laser rangefinder, daylight TV and infrared cameras) and the Giraffe target indication radar.

Nevertheless Lockheed Martin, and no doubt others, are likely to vie with Saab for provision of the combat system, an issue here being that the Future Frigate will have a much enhanced combat capability compared to the ships it will be replacing, including the land strike weapon capability to be acquired under Phase 3.

To accommodate the storage and launch of these and other surface and subsurface weapons it is anticipated that based on a Type 26 design, the Future Frigate could be equipped with at least 16 strike-length Mk41 VLS cells for ESSM, SM-2, ASROC, Land Attack and other missiles/decoys.

It has been reported that the Type 26 design includes 24 ‘cruise-missile compatible’ vertical launch cells, a number that may reflect the Royal Navy’s hopes to replace the Harpoon anti-ship missile with a new weapon system, vertically launched and with a ground attack capability. By comparison, the Anzac ships are each equipped with 8-cell tactical-length vertical launch systems.

Land attack capability
Aside from the ship’ gun system a limited land attack capability out to around 125 km is available to the ADF in the form of the Harpoon Block II missiles equipping Collins class, Adelaide class and Anzac class platforms. If this more limited land attack capability is to be retained for the Future Frigate then at least two 4-canister AGM-84 Harpoon/SLAM land attack missile launchers, together with one Mk 45 5in gun to assist in land attack operations, would be needed.

The cruise missile land attack capability to be provided for the Future Frigate and Submarines almost certainly will be the Tomahawk BGM109E, an all-weather submarine or ship-launched land attack missile designed to fly at extremely low altitudes, at speeds in excess of 850 kmh. Powered by a turbofan engine, the missile has a range of some 2000 km.

Tomahawk is an all-weather submarine or ship-launched land-attack cruise missile. After launch it is propelled by a solid propellant until a small Williams turbofan engine takes over for the cruise portion of flight. A highly survivable weapon, radar detection is difficult because of the missile's small cross-section and low altitude flight. Similarly, infrared detection is difficult because the turbofan engine emits little heat.

The Tomahawk land-attack cruise missile has been used to attack a variety of fixed targets, including air defence and communications sites, often in high-threat environments. The land attack version of Tomahawk has inertial and terrain contour matching (TERCOM) radar guidance.

In 2014, Raytheon began testing Block IV improvements to attack sea and moving land targets. The new seeker will passively pick up the electromagnetic radar signature of a target and follow it, and actively send out a signal to bounce off potential targets before impact to discriminate its legitimacy before impact.

ASW weapon implications
The DCP has indicated the need for ASW capabilities for the Future Frigate and it is anticipated that the design would need to incorporate low frequency active and passive sonars in addition to the standard hull mounted sonar to protect a maritime force against submarine threats.

No doubt these and other sensors would be provided by modern derivatives of the Thomson Spherion hull-mounted sonar, the Petrel mine and obstacle avoidance sonar system, and the Ultra Electronics multistatic variable depth sonar system, the Ultra 2500 electro-optical director, and the Sagem VAMPIR IR search and track system.

A major ASW asset will be the flight deck and systems support for an MH-60R Seahawk helicopter equipped with dipping sonar linked to the ships’ combat system. The MH-60R supports a range of missions including anti-surface warfare, search-and-rescue, naval gunfire support (NGFS), surveillance, communications relay and so on.

Another important ASW capability would be employment of the vertical launch Anti-Submarine Rocket (ASROC) designed to deliver the Mk.54 Mod Lightweight Torpedo to a water-entry point close to a targeted submarine.  The Mk.54 torpedo is very much an ADF in-service weapon and will equip both the P-8A Poseidon and the MRH-60. It is reported that the RAN considers the Mk.54 as ‘comparable in capability’ to the in-service MU90 and thus vertical launch ASROC appears a strong possibility for the Future Frigate’s ASW inventory.

Gun system
Oto Melara may propose its 127/64 Lightweight medium calibre naval gun, in competition with the BAE Systems Mk.45 Mod 4. Reports suggest that the OM 127 is an excellent gun system with Germany selecting it for its F125 frigates, and Italy is putting the gun on its FREMM General Purpose frigates, with France interested in possibly up-gunning its own FREMM ships with it in the future.

With 56 rounds ready-to-fire in four revolving, round magazines, the gun can have four different types of ammunition available for immediate use at all times, and it offers an unmatched (in its calibre class) rate of fire of 35 rounds per minute. The OM 127/64 can also fire Vulcano ammunition, which offers a 70 to 120 km reach to the ship, a formidable extension in gunfire capability.

The Mk.45 Mod 4 is also a very good gun, adopted by many Navies including the RAN, and used on all US Navy warships, but is said to be not as advanced and, perhaps the true crucial difference, it is currently without a guided long range ammunition, although the Multi-Service Standard Guided Projectile (MS-SGP) went through a successful first test firing from a Mk 45 Mod 4 naval gun at White Sands Missile Range, last year.

According to projectile developer BAE Systems, the MS-SGP guided flight test, culminated more than 110 MS-SGP subsystem tests, demonstrated the tactical capability to a range of 38 km. The MS-SGP’s maximum range is nearly 100 km, with accuracy of less than five meters.

Counter measures
The Future Frigate is likely to be equipped with the ES-3701 tactical radar electronic support measures (ESM) and surveillance system, or its advanced equivalent as well as a range of decoys. These would include towed ASW decoy systems (such as the SLQ-25A towed torpedo decoy), the Nulka active missile decoy and Terma's C-Guard Soft-Kill Weapon System and Mk.137 decoy launchers.

The last is a decoy system for naval platforms made to defeat stream attack with multiple missiles and torpedoes from multiple directions. The system effectively counters advanced threats like small range gate Radio Frequency (RF) missiles, imaging Infrared (IR) seekers missiles, and advanced next generation torpedoes. These threats require fast response and utilisation of advanced tactics supporting the latest in decoy technologies available.

End note
This article has focussed on the platform and weapon systems that hopefully lends colour and shape to what is essentially a blank canvas – the Anzac ship replacement project under SEA 5000. While accuracy is less than certain in speculative musings of this sort, that should not rule out their entertainment value!

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