Sea Power: Getting the LHD contracts lined up | ADM Apr 2009
Julian Kerr Sydney
Five years before the first of the Royal Australian Navy's two 27,800 tonne Canberra-class LHDs is scheduled for delivery, the only known hiccup in the program to date is a possible delay in work on the first hull because of a storm that battered Navantia's shipyard in north-western Spain.
The storm hit the Ferrol shipyard in late December 2008.
At the time of ADM going to press, its impact on the LHD schedule was not known, but it is unlikely to be significant.
Referring to the storm in evidence to the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade committee on 25 February, senior DMO executive Warren King praised Navantia as, "a reliable and conscientious contractor that does not use these occasions to manufacture a position for themselves."
Based on the BPE strategic projection ship designed for the Spanish Navy by Navantia - also the designer of the RAN's three Hobart-class air warfare destroyers - the first of the LHDs will be delivered in late December 2013 and the second in July 2016.
Merv Davis, BAE Systems' Director Maritime, told ADM that preliminary design reviews for the communications and navigation systems have been completed and the preliminary design reviews for the combat system and whole of ship would take place between February and May.
Changes to the BPE design are being kept to the minimum and are largely above the flight deck.
The port side ski-jump is being retained, and will potentially allow cross-decking with allies operating aircraft such as the Harrier of the short take-off vertical land (STOVL) variant off the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Davis acknowledges that this capability, "will undoubtedly raise a number of questions in the future."
The layout of the upper deck work has been finalised after extensive modelling and other ‘Australianisation' design work is moving ahead well, Davis said.
This includes an Australian-designed integrated bridge, the layout of the communications suite, and the layout and installation in the island of the combat system.
Air conditioning is being upgraded, Australian explosives' standards are being implemented in the magazines, and the galley, firefighting and medical facilities are all being significantly altered.
"There's always the challenge of taking an essentially existing design and meeting all the customer's needs for data around that which you need to manage quite carefully, but the interaction with the Commonwealth is working well, so we're reasonably comfortable," Davis commented.
"We have to meet schedule for delivering the hull to the transport ship and there's no threat to that, and at the moment there's no reason to think why we shouldn't deliver to the required dates."
Tentative timelines
BAE Systems has already made tentative bookings through Navantia for the heavy-lift ship that will transport the LHD hulls from Ferrol to its Williamstown shipyard - the first in May 2012, the second in January 2014. The voyage from Ferrol to Melbourne will take more than a month.
At Williamstown the Australian-constructed island superstructure will be married with the hull and a range of systems fitted and integrated over a period of about 15 months.
In addition to erecting and consolidating the superstructures to the LHD hulls, work at Williamtown will include mechanical, air conditioning and piping installation, electrical cable installation and termination, accommodation outfitting, combat and communications equipment installation and integration, installation and integration of platform management system to the superstructure, installation of Replenishment at Sea equipment, final painting, and general outfitting requirements.
These range from life jackets and flight deck equipment to thermal suits, NBC cleansing stations, galleyware, medical equipment and cargo lashings.
The superstructure involves eight blocks including mast structures, the heaviest of which will be 250 tonnes.
All will be constructed by BAE Systems at Williamstown although blasting and painting will be sub-contracted.
Steel required for the superstructure has been put out to tender, as have subcontracts for a variety of smaller systems such as emergency position-indicating radio beacons.
Major subcontracts that have already been awarded include a $105 million contract with Saab Systems for the 9LV Mk 4 combat management system, a development of the 9LV Mk 3E system equipping the RAN's Anzac class frigates.
This contract also includes the Sea Giraffe agile multibeam 3-D surveillance radar, a type that also equips Sweden's Visby class of stealth frigates and the General Dynamics contestant for the US Navy's Littoral Combat Ship requirement.
L-3 Communications has been awarded a US$109 million contract to develop and deliver an integrated communication system for the LHDs.
This will include all external and internal communication subsystems, maritime tactical wide area networks, IT networks, CCTV system, local area data networks, HF/VHF/UHF radios, entertainment and training subsystems, and the broadcast and alarm system.
Northrop Grumman is providing US$8.4 million worth of navigation systems and sensors including Sperry Marine Mk39 Mod 3A ring laser gyro navigator inertial navigation systems.
These will be integrated with the radars, electronic charting system, autopilot, steering control, speed and depth sensors, GPS and DGPS positioning systems, automatic identification systems, voyage data recorder and other systems and sensors using Sperry Marine's NavDDS data distribution network.
The infrared and track requirement is being met by Sagem's VAMPIR NG, which also equips the Anzac class.
Vampir NG will be integrated with the LHD's own combat system to provide surveillance and warning of both symmetrical and asymmetrical threats using state-of-the-art image processing technology.
It can also be used as a helicopter landing aid and help control the movements of landing craft.
Maritime ASTIS wideband satellite communications terminals are to be furnished by Astrium, Europe's largest space company.
The same type of terminal has also been ordered for the AWDs.
Davis said contracts have also been concluded with the US company Argon ST for the torpedo decoy system, and with Rafael for eight Typhoon 25mm remote weapons systems complete with Toplite electro-optic sights, four of which will be mounted at the corners of each ship to fend off asymmetric attacks.
The contract amounts were not disclosed.
The same 25mm Typhoon systems are being fitted to HMA Ships Tobruk, Kanimbla and Manoora, and also equip the Armidale class patrol boats.
The lack of short range surface-to-air missiles or last ditch close-in weapons systems (CIWS) is unusual for assets as large and important as the LHDs, even if they will be able to rely on protection from air warfare destroyers and upgraded Anzac class frigates.
France's 21,300 tonne Mistral class LHDs carry two Simbad launchers for the Mistral air defence missile in addition to two 30mm cannon.
South Korea's 18,900 tonne Dokdo class LHDs are fitted with the RIM-116 rolling airframe missile system as well as two 30mm Goalkeeper CIWS systems.
Navantia has meanwhile contracted with GE Marine to supply two LM2500 gas turbines, each producing 33,300 shaft horsepower.
Each LHD will be powered by a single gas turbine in a Combined Diesel Electric and Gas turbine (CODLAG) configuration with diesel engines.
Two pod propulsion units per ship, each with an output of 11MW, and power supply equipment are being supplied by Siemens Marine Solutions in an order worth about $100 million.
The propulsion pods are located outside the ship's hull, reducing noise and vibration levels. The pods can be turned, increasing manoeuvrability.
Building blocks
The first of the 100 blocks, most of them weighing about 100 tonnes, that will make up the hull of the first LHD will be placed on the Ferrol slipway later this year and the number of BAE Systems staff posted to Ferrol is being increased, Davis said.
Keith Malpress would be spending much more time in Spain as deputy program manager and his current role as LHD program manager would be taken over at the end of March by Graeme Ormiston, who was moving from the position of Deputy Managing Director and Managing Director-designate of the UK's Type 45 destroyer program.
According to Davis, liaison with major subcontractors such as Saab and L3 is in good shape and has been underway since Day One of the program "and arguably even before that, when we were talking to them about developing our proposal."
The communications and combat systems are unique in terms of the LHD.
"With the combat system we've got a set of requirements we've got to meet, everything from controlling watercraft to helicopters to providing weapon control for the guns as well as all the usual command support capability you'd expect.
"We've got to ensure that the design develops to deliver the functional and other requirements of the contract - power, cooling, lighting etc, and that it matches and integrates with the communications and other systems to deliver the overall capability."
Davis said the system did not have the capacity for threat evaluation and weapon assignment that might be expected in a frigate or larger ship but, "it's got the basis for higher command, task group command or whatever.
"It's a very sensible capability solution going forward."
Although the type of landing craft to be carried by the LHDs has yet to be decided, this had not affected any planning to date.
The Williamstown workforce, hit by 80 redundancies late last year, is expected to ramp up from about 150 staff in trades directly involved in shipbuilding to about 750 to handle the LHD contract together with possible subcontract work on AWD modules.
"Twelve to six months ago I would have been much more nervous about our ability to get the right kind of people in the timeframes required.
:Now we're in a much better position although we all regret the current economic circumstances," Davis commented.
The BAE Systems Australia team is meanwhile focusing on changes at the Williamstown shipyard necessary to handle the LHD project.
These include the removal of one large and one small wharf; the installation of additional moorings; new cranes; probably some dredging; and modifying a number of sheds and production halls should any AWD work be won.