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As homeport to 10 of the RAN’s 14 Armidale class patrol boats, HMAS Coonawarra, adjoining Darwin Harbour and part of Larrakeyah Barracks, is a major part of the RAN’s involvement in Operations Resolute and Sovereign Border.

However, shallow water and limited wharfage at HMAS Coonawarra mean that the 100 or so visit days by larger RAN and foreign warships to Darwin every year must be accommodated at the commercial port, whose own wharfage is needed to meet increasing commercial shipping demands and is often unavailable for naval visitors, particularly during major exercises.

This was highlighted during the first week of Exercise Kakadu in August, when berthing was available for only four of the eight ships taking part.

Initial improvements are being driven by the support requirements for HMAS Canberra, the first of the RAN’s two 27,500 tonne Landing Helicopter Docks (LHDs), which will commission late this year and enter into service in late 2015.

“Basically we need improved Navy wharf infrastructure in Darwin capable of berthing a range of Navy ships including LHD,” Rear Admiral Mark Campbell, Head of Navy Capability, told ADM.

“We can prepare for amphibious operations or humanitarian assistance while an LHD is anchored in the port of Darwin but we’re going to need to have her alongside at some stage.”

To solve the most pressing requirement, contracts have been let in conjunction with the Northern Territory’s Land Development Corporation for the design of a multi-user barge ramp at East Arm which will facilitate the loading and unloading of the four 56-tonne LCM-IE Landing Craft Light aboard each LHD or the LCM8 watercraft carried in the Landing Ship Dock (LSD) HMAS Choules. These are used to transport troops and equipment to and from the shore including where there are no fixed port facilities.

“Subject to Government approval, the ramp will be in place at mid-2016 so we’ll be able to use the LHD or LSD watercraft for amphibious activities, as well as transport for explosive ordnance and other stores to and from various ships at anchor in the port,” RADM Campbell said. “Hopefully, the wharf infrastructure in Darwin will be improved and upgraded over the next five to 10 years which will assist us.”

New outer wharf
Meanwhile, Defence is progressing a project to deliver a 250 metre outer wharf at HMAS Coonawarra capable of berthing and replenishing varying combinations of major RAN ships, including the LHD, plus modest ready-use fuel storage to allow refuelling of ships alongside the wharf.

The wharf will not be used for amphibious load/offload teaks, which will be undertaken using landing craft to/from the barge ramp facility at East Arm. It is however subject to approval and remains a matter for next year’s Defence White Paper and associated reviews.

An additional factor to take into account is the anticipated increase in the number of US Navy ships visiting the Top End as part of the US “Pivot to Asia”, together with the future requirements of the US Marine Corps rotational force in Darwin as it moves towards its full strength of 2,500.

“I believe that the Marines are going to need more wharf facilities than we currently have in place, but this is still being worked through with the Americans in terms of their potential requirements and our own plans,” RADM Campbell said.

“We probably only need berthing facilities in Darwin for one LHD; I don’t think there are going to be many circumstances where we’re going to have the two LHDs together up there.”

Adequate berthing was already available in Townsville, while Cairns was “a little problematic” for a vessel the size of a 230 metre-long LHD.

Planning also had to take into account the effects of the tropical cyclone season stretching from November to April, when total reliance on northern ports could result in ships not being able to put to sea.

In a further development, the RAN is to vacate Darwin’s four-hectare Stokes Hill naval fuel installation, which has been used for bulk fuel storage since the 1920s, by the end of this year. A contract has been signed with Vopak, the international tank storage provider, to access naval distillate fuel at the port’s East Arm wharf and supply ready fuel to tanks at HMAS Coonawarra.

Future of NORCOM
The future of Northern Command (NORCOM) Headquarters, based in Larrakeyah Barracks, is also under consideration as part of the First Principles Review aimed at improving Defence’s overall effectiveness and efficiency.

A decision to retain NORCOM HQ in Darwin was taken in 2010 by the then-Labor government. However, most of the tasking for both Operations Resolute and Sovereign Borders is now understood to emanate from Headquarters Joint Operations Command in Bungendore, and communications capabilities have been significantly improved.

With two major fleet units assigned to northern waters response as part of Operation Resolute, the RAN’s international engagement program to Southeast Asia via Darwin has been curtailed but not abandoned, even temporarily.

“The program is vital to our understanding of and improving relations with other navies and we’re keeping it going as best we can, often by ensuring that visits are as close as possible to the Operation Resolute area of operations,” commented RADM Campbell.

Another capability will shortly be lost to RAN operations in the north with the decommissioning at Cairns in November of the last three of the once six-strong Balikpapan Landing Craft Heavy (LCH) fleet. The three other 364-tonne LCHs were retired in December 2012.

Some regional sealift capability will be provided by HMAS Choules (with LCM8 watercraft) and the LCM-1Es, but the latter will remain with the LHDs. This will leave a gap in the Navy’s ability to deliver troops and equipment to areas reachable only by ships with very shallow drafts, but more in terms of persistence than capability.

The good news is that six new heavy landing craft with improved speed and sea-keeping capabilities, able to support the LHDs as part of an amphibious task group, or to conduct independent small-scale regional amphibious operations, were included in the 2012 Defence Capability Plan (DCP) under Joint Project 2048 Phase 5.

The bad news is the DCP anticipated an extraordinary nine years between First Pass approval in 2013-15 to Initial Operating Capability; a leisurely progression that may be accelerated in the DCP that will follow next year’s White Paper.

Exercise hub
Notwithstanding the shortage of berthing space, in late August Darwin again demonstrated its importance to the RAN as the hub for Exercise Kakadu 2014, most of which took place to the north and west of the Tiwi Islands.

The biennual exercise, the RAN’s largest maritime warfare training event of the year, involved 1,200 personnel, most of them Australian, from 14 countries; eight warships (four of them Australian); and 26 aircraft, nearly all of them Australian.

Exercise director Captain Heath Robertson RAN acknowledged what he described as a few less ships than previous years, but said participation had been sufficient for a good-quality high-level exercise.

The visiting ships comprised the ageing but capable Japanese guided missile destroyer Hatakaze, the Pakistani general purpose frigate Saif and fleet oiler Nasr, and the Philippines frigate Ramon Alcazar, all with embarked helicopters. NZ provided a P-3K2 Orion.

The RAN contribution included the guided missile frigates Sydney and Newcastle, Anzac-class frigates Arunta and Stuart, and Seahawk, Bell 429 and MHR90 Taipan helicopters. The RAAF furnished four F/A-18F Super Hornets, four Hawk 127 lead-in fighters, one E-7A Wedgetail, one AP-3C Orion, one LR-35 and four GAT36 Learjets.

“When we go through the planning we invite a broad range of regional partners and friends and we do that very much with an inclusive perspective,”  CAPT Robertson said.

“As countries determine what resources they can commit, that and contemporary issues start to shape what we can make the exercise be. In 2012 there was a lot of work on maritime interception operations; this year in addition to air warfare we did maritime strike and interdiction, fire support, and anti-submarine.”

Kakadu 2014 saw representatives from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Japan, Malaysia, NZ, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vanuatu either act as staff to one of two exercise task groups, or go to sea aboard participating vessels. Observers from China had been expected, but did not turn up.

Learning from Kakadu 2012, the harbour phase of the 19-day exercise was extended to a full week to allow more time for procedural planning, and interoperability to occur at a more personal level. This was followed by a force integration phase, then structured freeplay.

“We were able to get an excellent recognised air picture to carry out air battle management and anti-ship missile defence,” said CAPT Robertson. “The presence of the Hatakaze gave us the opportunity to coordinate multiple air warfare platforms in a complex environment; some really good high-end air warfighting based on the opportunity of having so many assets together.”

Truly joint training
Anti-ship missile attacks were simulated by Learjets paired with Hawks approaching in close company, imitating a missile release manoeuvre then following each other to replicate missile profiles towards the target ship. Anti-submarine warfare serials were conducted using simulation systems, but with real-world constructs

“The fact that we didn’t have a submarine didn’t mean the task groups couldn’t be tasked and carry out all the tactical training associated with it,” commented CAPT Robertson.

“In lieu of a live submarine we used EMATTS (Expendable Mobile ASW Training Targets) that are launched by aircraft or ships. They follow a range of pre-determined courses and speeds at various depths, and emulate a submarine when they’re pinged by a sonar.

“Additionally, although there was no actual submarine participating, we practiced water space management procedures that oblige ships and aircraft to adhere to ASW identification procedures and weapons release criteria to prevent a blue ship on blue submarine engagement.

“The exercise was a bit of a mix to try to please everyone, but it’s all been important in terms of our navy moving forward as we establish the Amphibious Task Group.”  

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