Royal Australian Navy Discussions and Updates

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aussienscale

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
I imagine this will be a regular routine when the LHD's are operational. You have a floating one stop disaster relief shop. You can deploy earth moving equipment, water pumps and purifying equipment, food, medical supplies, you have a hospital onboard, an airport on board that doesn't rely on local fuel supplies, coms for command and communication. They can bring so much to the table and are self sufficient.

The issue I see is that they may be over deployed with only two ships and a region with many nations that a prone to volcanos, typhoons, tsunamis, civil unrest and is generally pretty poor to begin with.

About the aid, China is getting some heat about the $100,000 they have given.
Haiyan: China's Paltry Aid to the Philippines | TIME.com
There has been a lot of consultation and inclusion of NGO's ever since the decision on the LHD's. Planning for such events has been in play for a very long time, with some on here having been involved.

There is no doubt the 2 LHD's will be worked hard, but depending on the situation you would more than likely have 1 LHD sail in conjunction with Choules (or possible second support ship ?) and future success replacements in an initial deployment with the LHD parking for the duration with Choules/Success Replacement doing alternate re-supply runs

Cheers
 

StoresBasher

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
Too late, the result was predictable given the forecast and warnings. They should have been loaded and sailing when the storm hit.
Easier said than done, Choules would have been in no state to go up and do this, given the defects and her tasking, near impossible.
 

Volkodav

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
Choules has got more problems or just the normal wear and tear and needs some tlc?
You use ships and acrew hours towards to regular maintenance as well as things breaking. This is a big ship with lots of little thing that can break and the RAn doesn't have anywhere near the stores / parts holding they once did, nor the qualified and experienced artificers.
 

Volkodav

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
just a thought, the Philippine disaster would be the sort of deployment a LCH replacement would be ideal for.
 

ausklr76

New Member
just a thought, the Philippine disaster would be the sort of deployment a LCH replacement would be ideal for.
lol I realise your talking about the eventual replacements but could you imagine a. how long it would take and b. the rough ride, if we sent any of the Balikpapan class. I did a few trips on Labuan back in the early 90's. One trip we hit a storm off Tin Can Bay and and spent the whole night going backwards!!
 

John Fedup

The Bunker Group
There has been a lot of consultation and inclusion of NGO's ever since the decision on the LHD's. Planning for such events has been in play for a very long time, with some on here having been involved.

There is no doubt the 2 LHD's will be worked hard, but depending on the situation you would more than likely have 1 LHD sail in conjunction with Choules (or possible second support ship ?) and future success replacements in an initial deployment with the LHD parking for the duration with Choules/Success Replacement doing alternate re-supply runs

Cheers
Canada has no LHDs and never likely will. If we did, the only application our pansy politicians would use them for is for disaster relief. At well over a billion each this makes no sense, better to just send several million dollars to the disaster zone. C-17s are better for us and we should increase the size of our flight to 8 while the production line is still operational. They can be used for disaster relief, both domestically and internationally as well as for military strategic lift. They would be better utilized than any LHDS would be.
 

RobWilliams

Super Moderator
Staff member
Where did Canada come from?

AFAIK this is about the RAN using their future LHDs or am i missing something?

:unknown
 

StoresBasher

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
You use ships and acrew hours towards to regular maintenance as well as things breaking. This is a big ship with lots of little thing that can break and the RAn doesn't have anywhere near the stores / parts holding they once did, nor the qualified and experienced artificers.
The supply chain is getting better but still extremely time consuming and frustrating trying to source parts for Choules. Having worked at the LSDSPO for 9 months this year, trying to get parts from OEM that have gone bust, a lot of superseded items and dealing with ridiculous leads times (56 weeks for one item).
 

Volkodav

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
That's what many don't consider when they sprout about modernising old platforms or building existing designs to print, the supply chains are just not there any more. Sometimes the equipment / parts being sought are out of production sometimes the supplier has gone bust. Often you are better getting the stuff you need manufactured locally by a contracted supplier, yes it is more expensive but at least you know the lead times upfront and can guarantee supply.
 

Volkodav

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
With the comparatively low cost of the Cape class Australia could actually build additional vessels to be supplied to Sri Lanka, Indonesia and as a replacement for the current Pacific Patrol Boats. These boats cost stuff all in the scheme of things and would be a great boon to our neighbours in improving their border protection capabilities, not just against Australia bound boat people but probably more likely to be used against piracy, smuggling and illegal fishing.

This would strengthen their ability to protect their borders, resources and economies while improving relations with Australia and some what cheekily supporting Australian industry with redirected foreign aid money. The economies of scale would make Austal more competitive on the global market and likely see even more exports of their designs accordingly.
 

alexsa

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
With the comparatively low cost of the Cape class Australia could actually build additional vessels to be supplied to Sri Lanka, Indonesia and as a replacement for the current Pacific Patrol Boats. These boats cost stuff all in the scheme of things and would be a great boon to our neighbours in improving their border protection capabilities, not just against Australia bound boat people but probably more likely to be used against piracy, smuggling and illegal fishing.

This would strengthen their ability to protect their borders, resources and economies while improving relations with Australia and some what cheekily supporting Australian industry with redirected foreign aid money. The economies of scale would make Austal more competitive on the global market and likely see even more exports of their designs accordingly.
At 350 million (in original project figures) for 8 boats the Capes are not that cheap. They are also not as robust as some off the shelf steel hull OSV designs which may cost less and last longer.

The ASI Pacific Patrol Boats were pretty rugged and would fit the available Infrastructure that many small islands have, or can afford.

Not convinced the Cape class is a good fit for this
 

Abraham Gubler

Defense Professional
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The ASI Pacific Patrol Boats were pretty rugged and would fit the available Infrastructure that many small islands have, or can afford.
With 46 units built from Rabual to Nemesis the Pacific boat has to be one of the most successful Australian defence/security programs of all time. A third generation steel hull boat for aid provision to nations across South East Asia, Indian Ocean that can't afford their own boats (Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Maldives) would be a very good investment and also provide a replacement for the Pacific Forum boats.
 

ASSAIL

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
With 46 units built from Rabual to Nemesis the Pacific boat has to be one of the most successful Australian defence/security programs of all time. A third generation steel hull boat for aid provision to nations across South East Asia, Indian Ocean that can't afford their own boats (Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Maldives) would be a very good investment and also provide a replacement for the Pacific Forum boats.
Their real success was the EVERY system was COTS and easily sustainable anywhere.
Our ship yard did a couple of refits on these in Darwin and I was so impressed by their simplicity.
 

gf0012-aust

Grumpy Old Man
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
With Kockums being sold to TKMS i am curious as to how this plays out for the future of the Collins replacement. The below article talks about TKMS trying to destroy the Swedish sub industry.

Germans look to sink Swedish sub maker - The Local

Would this be an issue for Sea 1000 and something that will effect a Collins 2 design and build?
Nope. The issue will be about the parent company and our IP rights and requirements

doesn't matter if they stay or go in the long run
 
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