Todjaeger
Potstirrer
There seems to be a point which has been missed. The LHD's as already designed could potentially by used as an ASW helicopter carrier. The limitations which the RAN would have in operating the Canberra-class LHD's as such are two-fold.One cannot be so dismissive of the overall capability an ASW carrier could bring to the RAN, freeing up valuable spots/room on the LHD for more heavy equipment or utility/heavy lift helicopters. Just to dwell on a single possible loadout of 8 Harrier/F35B for the Italian light carrier Cavour is plain wrong.
One only has to look at the RN Invincible class ASW carriers. The percentage of STOVL/helicopters aircraft differs pending on the mission set at the time of deployment, it may be heavy on ASW light on strike ASuW (12xHarrier, 10xSea King, 1xMerlin) or heavy strike ASuW but light on ASW (18x Harrier, 3x Sea King 1x Merlin).That type of flexibility would be needed for the RAN task force, but under exiting budgets is a luxury the RAN cannot afford at the demerit of the exiting surface/subsurface fleet.
As you know about our contribution to East Timor, in the early days the RAAF had bombed up aircraft on alert, also the Marines had a MEU on board the USS Peleliu stationed off the Timorese coast, it would be interesting to find out the response time those 6 Harriers would be compared to RAAF air support if needed by those on the ground.
The first being whether the internal configuration for the LHD's would provide sufficient fuel and munitions stores to sustain helicopter operations.
The second is whether there would be sufficient naval helicopters for an LHD to operate as a helicopter carrier.
According to various sources, a Canberra-class LHD can carry between 16 - 24 helicopters. Depending on the source one uses, a the Cavour can operate up to 30 aircraft while usually operating 8 Harriers and 12 EH-101 Merlins (from wiki...) while another source (Naval Technology) lists the Cavour's aviation complement as an either 8 Harriers/JSF OR 12 EH-101 Merlins...
Either way, unless things change significantly the RAN is only going to have 24 MH-60R Seahawk naval helicopters, in order to ensure that there are 8 naval helicopters available at any given time for deployment. Given that a Canberra-class LHD is a high value purple asset, it would be escorted to, from and in potentially hostile areas. Basically any op where having naval helicopters present would be valuable, there will be surface escorts present to do so. It is certainly possible that one of them (the LHD's) could be carrying additional Seahawks as part of its helicopter complement, but I really cannot forsee the RAN operating one as a helicopter carrier, since that would basically require all other RAN surface assets to be without a naval helicopter.
Given that the future surface fleet is looking like 3 AWD's, 8+ large FFG's, and up to 20 OCV's which might be helicopter-capable, deploying most/all RAN Fleet Air Arm assets aboard a single vessel seems rather risky.
Speaking of the OCV's...
Remember, SEA 1180 is at present supposed to be a providing an Offshore Combatant Vessel... However, it AFAIK has not been mentioned just how combat capable the OCV's are supposed to be.
It is worth looking at the following SEA 1180 Senate submission here.
Basically the submission suggests the possibility of a Role A/B and a different but related Role C/D design, with maximum commonality of systems between the vessels.
Unfortunately what still has to be determined, is just how capable the OCV is desired to be.
My personal preference would be for the OCV would be to have it highly capable in certain fitouts, with it understood that such fitouts would not be 'the norm' across the fleet.
I would start with a basic, steel mono-hulled design of ~100 m length and of ~2,000 tons displacement. Something which would be fairly typical for an OPV, but I would have it designed as a proper warship, and not just as a constabulary vessel. I would require the design to have a dedicated helipad and hangar with helicopter magazine.
The basic design would have some fairly sophisticated sensors, covering navigation and air/surface search radars as well as at least one (preferably more) illuminator, E/O sensors and hull-mounted sonar, SATCOMM and Link 11/Link 16 capability.
My preference in base weaponry would be for a pair of 35mm Millenium Guns, one each fore & aft.
I would also want the design capable of hosting containerized modules, whether these are modules from the USN's LCS programme, or Danish Stanflex modules, would need to be determined. My preference at this point would be for Stanflex modules, but this might be dependent on capability requirements.
AFAIK Stanflex modules cover a 76mm/62 cal. OTO-Breda (or is it -Melara now?) rapid fire gun, 8 Harpoon AShM, Mk 48 Mod 3 VLS for 12 ESSM SAM's, a LWT launcher and minelaying and MCM gear.
At the high end of the range, I could see the value in the OCV mounting four such modules in addition to the base kit. This could allow an OCV to be detailed to a RAN task force to provide MCM, but not require quite as much protection as a Huon-class MHC would against surface and aerial threats. An OCV kitted out with a 'high end' configuration could potentially be used as a close escort for AOR and sealift entering a theatre of operations, with a gun for surface threats, 12-24 ESSM for aerial threats, and LWT for ASW.
What could also potentially be interesting, would be for a mission deck to be included which could fit ISO containers for medical ops, additional quarters for an embarked force, and/or act as a RoRo vehicle deck for lightweight vehicles.
-Cheers