Or maybe the Leonardo version...
www.leonardocompany.com
www.abc.net.au
IMO a lot is being made out of something that other countries deal with all the time. It happened outside our eez. Clearly the Chinese are taking Australia submarine capability pretty seriously. I can't help but see this being released as a response to the media drama around subs. Which again highlights why we are building them.
All the more reason to assert the idea to build more submarines than currently planned.
And how are you going to pay for and crew these extra subs? What other capabilities are you going to deep six to fund these? The ADF doesn't have a never emptying pot of money from which it can just magic out treasure to pay for wish lists. If that was the case they'd have Galaxy class starships, Star destroyers and Battle Stars.
I agree about the longer range and not just for the supersonic AShM, but the subsonic ones as well. Both are evil and best kept well away. To me the 20 mm as a CIWS is like taking a knife to a gun fight and is last century's war, not todays or tomorrows. However the 40 mm has to have a very high hit probability, so either that requires a significant number of shells in the target area at the same time, or a shell that can destroy / disable its target with a very high probability everytime. Maybe someone could come up with a 40 mm revolver and combine that with high precision ammo and there'd be the best of both worlds. But until then, we can only have one or the other.
Both the people and builders of Australia of these "great ships" should be very proud of what they have accomplished over the last 10 years! Canada could always learn from our Australian brothers. You have made the world just a little safer. Cheers mate!!!
I think everyone will be happy if they actually get the 12 submarines built. Its not really the number of subs anymore, its about getting that production line open and pushing them out. Plus the refiting of the Collins class. Theres a total of 18 subs in play here, so sub numbers are not really an issue. its overall capability.
I think there might be a space for both. We certainly shouldn't be relying on just a 20mm CIWS to fend off modern peer missile attacks.
More than happy to immediately swap out the Typhoons across the fleet for the Leonardo OTO Marlin 40 mm.
I hope you mean 'just' the Navy Capes. While it is claimed the Capes have the space and weight for a 25mm it should be noted this will also require the electo optical system. Neither is an easy fit.
I don't know if I have been reading too many Tom Clancy or David Poyer books but what is the possibility that they could be laying something like SOSUS buoys similar to those the USA deployed in the GIUK gap during the cold warChinese "Research" vessel mapping off the WA coast.
High-tech Chinese research vessel detected mapping strategically important waters off WA
A Defence official says the Xiang Yang Hong 01 was "undoubtedly" mapping waters regularly used by Australian submarines heading to and from the strategically important South China Sea.
Would be nice if they could fit a 40mm which is lighter than phalanx. At least some sort of gun based CIWS would be a nice addition.The french were touting their capabilities, they know what they signed up to, however, it is a different type of partnership to what they usually have and they will play hardball the whole way along. We have been there before with french procurement (Mirages etc).
Just take an eastern brown, tassy devil and a salty along with you when negotiating. That should keep the frogs in line.Anzacs are so top heavy, they have to count hats on heads on the bridge to stop it from becoming a Collins class.
Anzacs are legacy and on the way out. But the type 26 is in design phase. Would not be surprised if they looked at this before they actually get in service or perhaps in the next batch.
The french were touting their capabilities, they know what they signed up to, however, it is a different type of partnership to what they usually have and they will play hardball the whole way along. We have been there before with french procurement (Mirages etc).
French were talking about sharing the crown jewels of submarine development with australia. France offers stealth sub tech to Australia to bolster contract bid
Australia also isn't naive when it comes with submarines or submarine projects. We got our sovereignty design out of the Swedes and we can now sell that capability back to them for use on the A26. We have also played with the Spanish on the AWD project. I don't think the Australian government or the RAN is going in with anything less than alert and wide eyed into this. The media will also be jumping on this every two seconds as well.
The Barracuda was arguably the most ambitious of the designs, and potentially the most capable. But with a fair amount of challenges. But this is why we needed a solid contract and to really nut out the details. Which we spent years doing.
My understanding is that the 20mm does have potential lethality advantages over 40mm in that it relies on striking the incoming ASM directly with armour piercing 20mm rounds rather than using smaller fragments generated by a 40mm shell detonating nearby. I imagine that the slower ROF for the 40mm would make the use of such fragmenting ammunition a necessity so as to put enough metal in the path of the inbound weapon to stop it in time. Range strikes me as possibly the biggest advantage of the larger calibre weapon (?).
Maybe they will wheel Chris Pyne out again to keep it on track? Australia has all sorts of odd creatures to use against the french.
