Stealth is the single most important factor in the philosophy and broad issues guiding the development of Australia’s Future Submarine, key decisions on which need to be made within 18 months, David Gould, general manager Submarines at the DMO, told the ADM Congress.
More care must also be taken in protecting sensitive information – “we need to get better at that, I don’t want to see whole submarines out on the hard, able to be photographed by every passerby,” Gould said in a wide-ranging presentation.
“What’s most important for a submarine, and I’m only going to say the word once, is stealth. That pervades every aspect of the submarine design,” he stated.
“So understanding where we’re going with that – and we’re getting clearer about it - is where the critical decision the government has to make will be; how much of that do you really need to work on. I won’t say any more about it because I’ve already talked about protecting information.”
Gould, who prior to his appointment in 2012 worked on the UK’s Astute class nuclear powered submarine project and led the restructure of the UK’s warship and submarine, guided weapon and helicopter industries, warned that risk was unavoidable, “So don’t ask for certainty until certainty can be produced.
“Certainty comes with work and we need to understand the difference between what I call shopping – just buying someone else’s product which they’ve already done – and real product capability development which confers sovereignty on what we need to do.”
Evolved Collins?
Gould confirmed early concept work was proceeding both on a new design and on what could be done with an evolution of the Collins class design.
“One of the problems is that it’s old now, it’s non-continuous, that could cause some problems….
“I’d like to see a decision taken, certainly within 18 months, which says we’re going for that (option) and we think the supply chain looks pretty much like that, then we can really go to town working out how we put an industrial entity together in Australia.
“Not actually contracting for the detailed design space but knowing where we’re going because you can’t keep your options open for much longer.”
Gould was speaking less than three weeks after Defence Minister David Johnston confirmed that a lengthy extension to the in-service life of the six-strong Collins class fleet would be necessary to avoid a gap in submarine capability.
”It’s vital to demonstrate the ability to manage the Collins class because that’s the thing that provides the first building block of our continuity, and manage Collins probably with an additional commission for each boat – not necessarily a full commission but part of a commission at least,” Gould commented.
Submarine design in Australia?
Independent design and integration of that design was the next really big step for Australia in submarine sovereignty – this being defined as Australian submarines being operated where Australia wants, when Australia wants, and how Australia wants.
This required detailed design capability which Australia would need assistance to train.
“We need to be able to do the physical spatial integration of the whole boat and the major subsystems – not every pump, not every generator, but we need to be able to put the whole thing together in a way that we understand and then crucially, we need to be able to certify the safety of the submarine without reference to a third party.
“We make changes, we do the design, you’ll be able to do it here in Australia, and then we are sovereign over our capability.”
However, Gould pointed out that accruing the necessary expertise would be expensive.
“We know that the only submarine in the world that does Australia’s job and is not nuclear-powered is the Collins - and Collins’ design has a limited life.
“If you’ve got to do a new design you’ve got to pay for it, no matter where the design is done. So whether it’s done here or overseas, it doesn’t really make an enormous difference.
“You’ve got to understand that in commissioning the design, Australia is in competition for a scarce resource worldwide, so we need to be more attractive to people than other places.”
Similarly, submarine production had changed a great deal in the 20 years since Australia completed the last Collins class boat, and people with more recent experience would be needed.
Undertaking the design domestically from the start might cost more upfront, but in through-life terms would offer a much better chance of producing an affordable artefact, Gould commented.
While there was a relationship between tonnage and cost in submarine construction, other factors were also involved.
“We need to make sure as we design the submarine that we’re managing the relationship between weight, power demand, cost, all of those things, and trying not to solve the problem by making the boat much bigger because that creates new problems,” he said.
