Western Australian shipbuilder Austal has unveiled its concept for two new optionally-crewed vessels on the opening day of the Indo-Pacific maritime exposition in Sydney.
Known as the Vantage-class, the two designs will feature a modular payload.
“We have two concepts. One is Vantage 25, a 25-metre optionally-crewed vessel with an equivalent payload of one 20-foot container (TEU), with a top speed of 20 knots and a range of 1,200 nautical miles at 10 knots,” Sam Abbott, Austal’s Head of Research and Development, told ADM.
“The second platform is Vantage 55, a 55-metre optionally-crewed vessel with a payload capacity of four TEUs, a top speed of 25 knots and a range of 6,500 nautical miles at 12 knots.”
One of the maritime requirements identified required by the Albanese government’s recent Surface Combatant Review conducted by retired US Navy Admiral William Hilarides was the acquisition of six Large Optionally-crewed Surface Vessels (LOSVs).
Under the plan, each vessel would be capable of providing “enhanced lethality” through the fitment of 32 Mk.41 Vertical Launch System (VLS) cells, relying on data from the Aegis Baseline 9 combat systems which will be a feature of the Royal Australian Navy’s Hobart-class air warfare destroyers and Hunter-class anti-submarine warfare frigates.
While this original requirement was for the vessels to be acquired through formal arrangement with the US Navy as a “fast follower”, with the vessels to be built at Henderson in Western Australia, Abbott says an end-to-end domestic solution is totally viable.
“Our intention is to demonstrate how these (Vantage) concepts can be provided as a minimum viable capability,” he said.
“At Austal we’re very much creating the capability in order to deliver to the Commonwealth that LOSV for the early 2030s. I believe that we are well-placed with the development we’re doing to deliver not only on the autonomous capability, but also on the other capabilities that the Navy requires.”