Upgrade aims for an effective, if smaller, FFG fleet.

The decision to retire two of the RAN's FFG-7s early raises the question of disposing of surplus long-lead items acquired by ADI in anticipation of a class-wide upgrade.
Federal Cabinet's 'trade-off' approach to approving new capital equipment resulted in the decision to decommission the two oldest of the RAN's six
FFG-7s, and to lay-up two of the Mine Hunter Coastal (MHC) fleet. ADI Limited now faces work lost in upgrading the two FFGs as well as their through-life maintenance and that of two of the MHCs.

But with the upgrade program now underway on HMAS Sydney, ADI's Director Naval Barry Barnes is happy. 'Work ahead on modifying and installing new equipment on the four remaining FFGs is still a complex but achievable undertaking and follows the very demanding, planning, system design and integration activities that have brought us to this point.' And as to what is to be done about the now surplus equipment items and ADI's loss of anticipated work he says that's an issue for discussion between the company and Defence. 'We're here to help sort out this issue in any way we can,' he says.

Supportability of the FFGs has been the subject of discussion since the late 1980s, culminating in initiation of the FFG Upgrade Project in 1993/94. Between 1993 and 1996, a Surface Combatant Force Study conducted within Defence analysed the capabilities of the surface combatant force (then planned to rise to 14 ships) and concluded that the FFG-7 class required an increase in capability.

The results of this study, the rapid advances in technology and the changing strategic environment warranted an upgrading of the FFGs' systems. The FFG Upgrade Project therefore evolved into providing both needed capability and supportability improvements to the FFGs. Studies showed that a life of 35 years for the FFG hull was well within naval architectural limits, although present superstructure cracking will continue to be a nuisance.

While the $1.4 billion FFG Upgrade Program has had its problems including an overall schedule delay of two years - due mainly to contract specification, baseline configuration information and combat system design issues - work on the first ship finally got underway with the handover of HMAS Sydney, at the graving dock at Garden Island on 22 September.

It had been anticipated that the last ship would be completed by 2007 but presumably with only four ships instead of six the program should be finished by late 2005 or early 2006. This assumes that the ships will be available on time for their six-month dockings and that this will not be hampered by the tempo of naval operations.

The upgrade program will substantially increase the operational effectiveness of the four warships - 03 Sydney, 04 Darwin, 05 Melbourne and 06 Newcastle - and entails improvements to self defence and offensive capabilities, enhancement to the ship's reliability and supportability. And for the 'warm glow' set international ecological practices of waste discharge will be adopted. The FFG Upgrade program involves:

* Replacing the command and control system with the Australian Distributed Architecture Combat System (ADACS) which will provide enhanced situational awareness and tactical functionality

* Upgrading the SPS-49 Surveillance Radar from the (V)4 standard to the SPS-49A (V)1. This version of the radar provides superior Moving Target Indication and Doppler measurement performance, providing for better, earlier, initial detection of incoming missiles.

* Modernising the Mk 92 Mod2 Fire Control System to Mod 12

* Installing an 8-Cell Mk 41 Vertical Launch System to handle ESSM

* Replacing the AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Surveillance System with the Israeli C-Pearl ESM

* Installing Link-16 to complement the existing Link-11 tactical data link

* Replacing Hull Mounted Raytheon MF Sonar SQS-56 with the largely locally developed Thales Spherion MF Sonar, also installed on the Anzac Class ships

* Installing the locally developed Thales PETREL Mine and Obstacle Avoidance Sonar, and incorporating a Torpedo Defence System.

The ships' hulls will also be strengthened and ballast moved and added to compensate for the new mass distribution, while their diesel generator prime movers will be replaced as will static frequency converters. When the upgrade is completed each ship will weigh 4,200 tonnes, 100 tonnes more than at present.

As each ship enters the program about half of her ship's company will move off, while the remaining 100 will be involved in maintaining the ship's routine, fire safety and security. Combat systems operators and electronic technicians will do courses applicable to the new equipment and armaments their ships will carry. Commanding officers will remain on board and the ships will remain commissioned.

Prior to the upgrade program, notable improvements had been made over the years including improving the performance of the tactical data system, using as a tool the Navy's Combat Data System Centre in Fyshwick, ACT, incorporation of Link 11, installation of the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System, addition of the Nulka off- board RF EW decoy, improved communications and, most recently, the addition of an Electro-Optical Tracking System (EOTS).

The decision of the Defence Capability Review to incorporate the more powerful SM-2 anti-aircraft missile follows earlier studies. It will involve modifying the GMLS Mk 13 launcher with ORDALT kits supplied by the OEM. Since the kits may take up to 18 months for delivery from first order this work will be undertaken as a separate contract and not under the FFG Upgrade contract.

Introducing the SM-2 anti-aircraft missile to the FFG (for the first time) suggests a pretty advanced AAW capability, but its inclusion is more to do with the unsupportability of the SM-1, which was moving into obsolescence as these ships were built.

SM-2 in its various operational guises is a much more capable missile than SM-1 and with improvements to the FFG's sensors being introduced during the upgrade considerable advantage will be taken of the SM-2's capabilities although this is unlikely to extend to mid-course guidance.

The forward-mounted Mk 41 vertical launch system that is to be installed has been designed to accommodate ESSM not SM-2, hence the need to modify the Mk 13 'one-arm-bandit' rail launcher, until now used for Harpoon and SM-1.

While modifying four instead of six short rail launchers represents some cost savings - the mods have yet to be purchased - the same cannot be said for the bulk of the equipment ordered, much well in advance of requirements as long lead items to meet the originally stated timescale and most of which is now stored at ADI's Garden Island facility.

According to the 2002-03 Defence Annual Report, $809m out of the approved budget cost of $1445m, has been spent so far on the FFG upgrade; since work on the first ship has only just started, most of this has been spent on the acquisition of new equipment for installation during the upgrade and on the development of the new combat system. Since there will be a surplus of items no longer required for the two decommissioned ships, but already paid for, we understand high level discussions between ADI and Defence will be held to resolve issues facing both the company and the RAN as a result of the Defence Capability Review.

ADI has been responsible for upgrading the Training Centre at HMAS Watson. Perhaps this could be extended to provide land-based training on the new systems to be incorporated into the FFGs. This could make use of some items of equipment while others could be stored as spares or for cannibalisation, bearing in mind that the ships still have considerable service life ahead of them. In this context the upgrade aims to extend the service life of the two US-built ships to 2015-17 and the last two Australian-built ships to 2017-2020.

By Tom Muir, Canberra