It will certainly give Austal and Fassmer something to fret about. My understanding is 'at least' two will be built in Adelaide with some suggest one or two more.
Forgacs performed quite well on the destroyer build and deserved more orders for their efforts, especially after they ramped up to absorb some of BAEs slack. Too bad in hindsight that the AORs weren't ordered locally as they could probably have built the hulls a Tomago, superstructures in Adelaide, building an appropriate ship lift at Tomago.
By this point even BAE could have undertaken the work. Not so certain Tomago would have been able to build the hulls, well actually have the skills to yes, but the actual site lay out and with a ship lift thrown in no so sure it would have been capable without a major redevelopment of the site.
Without building new facilities the graving dock would have to be used to build the ship. This dock is 244m long and 33.5m at the top (noting its structure narrows at the base). It could theoretically do the job but the dock would not be useable for any other and you could only build one hull (meaning a long delivery time as you can only consolidate a single hull). You would also need significant infrastructure upgrades to handle very large blocks.
Would the long delivery time and the fact that we could only build one ship at a time really be that big an issue?
If a ship takes 5 years to deliver from cutting steel (not included the tome required to configure the yard) then you would be looking at almost a decade between commencement of build and delivery of the second vessel if you cannot do much of the work concurrently. Some block work could be done concurrently but it is still going to be a slow process and a graving dock is not best suited for this were there is limited space at the margins and currently no overhead carnage.
But why do we need to invest in building facilities that would be used a few times every decade or so?
Agree with all your points, 100%.
I had viewed such an investment as being able to build a number of our larger ships, Over the life time the AOR's, LHD,s LSD's etc but not just build them but have a site able to better and more efficiently maintain the vessels at a lower cost.
For future sustainment and upgrades of the 'heavy metal' in the fleet, lets not forget the Captain Cook Dock at Garden Island, Sydney, It is right there where most of those ships are based too.
I can't see any compelling need for any additional heavy infrastructure.
I have a copy of an ASC brochure about 2012 when they teamed with DSME for the AOR that stated that ASC could not build the first 2 AORs but would take over production of the third.
I imagine that would be down to the ship lift, as it would need to be expandedfor the oiler, that most likley happen during the build process with two built overseas to get them PDQ
Its amazing the difference following the advice of professionals makes. Just too bad that it took a procession of overseas professional's, all making basically the same recommendations Australia's own experts had been pushing for over a decade, before any action was taken. Why is it so many in Aus are so willing to listen to and believe home grown bean counters and political/economic ideologues, but won't listen to our own technical experts and only implement their recommendations if presented by an os expert?Interesting note, looks like x4 of the Collins are operating/ working up, just off Freeo/ GI currently.
Never noticed such a cluster before
Appears the perceived availability rate, is moving in the right direction.
Standard issue in many industries, the politically motivated accountants are the ones that are listened to by the decision makers. It takes a eternity before finally someone realises that they've been lied to over the years and finally a decision is made that actually allows the purchased system or capability to actually be realised. Education (my field) is ripe with examples of money spent on "things" with too little of the resources needed to make them effective, or worse, money spent on the wrong things. Latest local push is to have STEM style laboratory and learning spaces in primary schools. Unfortunately well over 80% of primary teachers have no scientific discipline knowledge, let alone science pedagogical knowledge, and what they do have is usually based upon myth. Hundreds of millions will be spent with no beneficial learning outcome achieved.