Superior antisubmarine warfare (ASW) capabilities have emerged as the primary although not the only driver behind the selection of BAE Systems’ Type 26 Global Combat Ship (GCS) over its Italian and Spanish rivals to provide the RAN’s next generation of major surface combatants.
Commenting on the 29 June announcement that nine Australianised Type 26/GCS would replace the RAN’s eight Anzac-class frigates under Project Sea 5000 at a cost of $35 billion, Defence Minister Marise Payne stressed that the decision was “entirely based on capability, the best capability to equip the navy in anti-submarine warfare”.
Similarly, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the next-generation frigates, to be known as the Hunter class in RAN service, would be “the most advanced anti-submarine warships in the world”.
The 6,900-tonne BAE Systems’ design competed in a lengthy comparative evaluation process (CEP) against the 6,200-tonne ASW variant of the FREMM multi-mission frigate offered by Fincantieri of Italy, and an ASW evolution of the F-100 Alvaro de Bazan-class design on which the RAN’s air warfare destroyers (AWDs) are based, proposed by Spanish shipbuilder Navantia.
Although construction of the first of eight Type 26s for the launch customer, the UK’s Royal Navy, began only last July, Defence confirmed to the Australian National Audit Office last December that sufficient data had been provided for the design to be considered mature.
The winning design has now been frozen to facilitate contractual agreement for the program – expected by the end of the year - finalise industrialisation issues, and allow the procurement of long-lead material.
Although continuing to focus primarily on ASW, Sea 5000’s top-tier requirements were nevertheless progressively extended to also include significant anti-air and anti-ship missile defence.
The result will be a class whose all-round capabilities up to and including Task Group-orientated warfighting will closely resemble those of the three 7,000-tonne AWDs.
Nigel Stewart, head of BAE Systems’ SEA 5000 bid team, said the Type 26/GCS included an outstandingly low acoustic signature, power, weight and space reserves sufficient to facilitate upgrades over the ships’ life-of-type, open architecture and modular construction to accommodate differing systems, and operational flexibility provided by an amidships mission bay.
“I think secondary to that was BAE Systems’ strong Australian footprint - 65 years in the country, 3,500 personnel, and the work we’ve put in to deliver a strong Australian industrial content. The long-term strategic relationship with the UK was also very important,” he told ADM.
A further benefit was the derisking aboard the Royal Navy’s well-regarded Type 23 ASW frigates of many of the systems that will be deployed on the Hunter-class, including the vital Thales Type 2087 variable depth towed array sonar.
Furthermore, the company was already familiar with systems mandated for Sea 5000. It manufactures the Mk 45 Mod 4 5-inch gun, produces components for the Evolved Seasparrow Missile (ESSM), supports Aegis combat systems for the US Navy, and installed CEAFAR radars on the Anzac fleet as part of the successful anti-ship missile defence (ASMD) upgrade.
Stewart said the newly-developed CEAFAR2 S/X/L band active phased array radar destined for the Hunter class would require a new structure. Although the weight was not an issue “it’s a much larger, more powerful radar than what will be on the Type 26 and it needs more space”.
Construction of the new class will begin in December 2020 with prototyping at Commonwealth-owned ASC Shipbuilding at Osborne. First steel will be cut in 2022 and delivery of the first-of-type is anticipated in 2025-27 with “around about” 65-70 per cent Australian content, Stewart said.
ASC will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of BAE Systems during the build process, with the UK company to be fully responsible and accountable for the ships’ delivery.
After construction is completed, the Commonwealth will resume full ownership of ASC, retaining intellectual property, a skilled workforce and the associated equipment.
Australian construction is predicated on batches of three, utilising the same digital manufacturing process installed in BAE Systems’ Glasgow yard for Type 26 production. The present Osborne schedule involves completion of a ship every two years but sufficient capacity at the upgraded and expanded facility was available to either accelerate construction or build other ships concurrently, Stewart said.
Overlapping of UK and Australian construction was not seen as a problem.
“We’re in full production in the UK and our design team there is now beginning to run down, so that gives us full bandwidth to support the modifications of the Sea 5000 program,” Stewart said.
“With ASC we’ll have a strong ship-building team to start with and in Australia there’s plenty of combat system skills and experience.”
Combat system integration details have yet to be disclosed, but Stewart said the intention was to carry this out as a team headed by BAE Systems but working with Lockheed Martin (selected last October to provide the ships’ Aegis combat management system), Raytheon, and Saab.