Lightweight torpedo purchase gets the green light

A key element of the RAN's surface combatant upgrade plans won government approval late last year.
In December last year Australian Minister for Defence, Senator Robert Hill, announced government approval for the $250 million purchase of war stocks of the Eurotorp MU90 Impact lightweight anti-submarine torpedo under JP2070, Ph.3.

Phase 2 of the project, which is currently under way, covers initial acquisition of torpedoes and integration of the MU90 with the RAN's FFG and Anzac-class frigates, Seahawk and Super Seasprite helicopters and the RAAF's AP-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft. The new weapon will replace the ADF's ageing Mk46 Mod1 and Mod5 lightweight torpedoes.

The MU90 is 3m long, weighs 300kg, has a range of up to 15km and is designed to track and attack submarines at depths ranging from 25m to more than 1,000m. It is presently in mass production for the French, Italian, German, Danish, Polish and Australian Navies.

"The MU 90 Impact torpedo is a very capable anti-submarine weapon system which is highly effective in both deep and shallow waters," Hill said in his announcement. "These torpedoes will significantly improve the capacity of the ADF to destroy enemy submarines once detected. The torpedoes will be assembled in Australia, with up to 35 per cent of the torpedo components manufactured here. The torpedoes will be produced by the Djimindi Alliance that consists of Thales Underwater Systems, EuroTorp and the Commonwealth of Australia."

One of the key drivers for the project, and the eventual choice of the MU90, is the proliferation within our region of quiet diesel-electric submarines compounded by reverberant acoustic conditions of the warm, shallow waters to our north which pose a significant challenge to sonar sensor and torpedo guidance systems.

>From the outset, JP2070 lent itself to the alliance approach. This was due to the anticipated complexity and difficulties of integrating and qualifying the new weapon with no less than five separate ADF platforms near-simultaneously.

The Djimindi Alliance contract was signed in 2000. The first phase of the project was a Project Definition Study (PDS) to determine the program's scope, costs and risks. Phase 2, worth approximately $260 million, will see initial acquisition of the MU90 and associated logistic support, and the integration of the weapon into the various operational platforms over an estimated eight-year period. The schedule for this project is driven as much as anything else by the availability of the platforms requiring integration. The original DCP didn't state an in-service date for the MU90; however, initial operational capability is scheduled for 2005 with the Anzac frigate HMAS Parramatta expected to be first operational platform, with the other platforms coming on-line sequentially.

Eurotorp has already begun manufacturing the weapons to be acquired under Phase 2; these will be sourced from Europe. Components for these weapons are already being manufactured by Thales Underwater Systems at its MU90 Torpedo Final Assembly Facility in Sydney. This will build the war stocks of torpedoes to be acquired under Phase 3 and will also be the through life support and upgrade facility for these weapons. The company is currently building 575 MU90 homing head transducers and electronic boards on a sole-source basis for Eurotorp in the new facility.

The Djimindi alliance has key sub-partners: ADI will be involved in the manufacture of the MU90 and in FFG-7 platform integration, while CSC Australia will coordinate the integration of the torpedo onto the Seahawk and Super Seasprite helicopters. This will follow completion of the PDS into the Seahawk mid-life upgrade which in turn will be impacted by the outcome of Air 9000 Ph.2 - Additional Trooplift Helicopters.

The disbandment of RLM Systems means a new sub-partner will integrate the torpedo onto the Orion aircraft; negotiations are under way at present. Also, the ANZAC Alliance (DMO, Tenix Defence and Saab Systems) and the Djimindi Alliance have formed an integrated project team to integrate the MU90 onto the Anzac frigates, starting with ship 07, HMAS Parramatta.

Parramatta has already carried out a number of firings of Mk46 torpedoes using the new launcher and fire control system. She and her subsequent sister ships will be delivered with the new torpedo while ships already launched will be retrofitted with an upgraded launcher and the necessary interfaces with the ships' Saab 9LV Mk3 combat management system. The FFG-7s will be retrofitted with the MU90 during the FFG Upgrade program, for which ADI Ltd is prime contractor.

By Gregor Ferguson, Adelaide