Royal Australian Navy Discussions and Updates

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MickB

Well-Known Member
Now there's a thought, Hermes in the RAN operating 24 Skyhawks, a squadron of Trackers and a squadron of Seakings, easily serving through to the mid 90s before needing replacement.
Or a mixed airgroup of Skyhawks and ex USN F8s. Similar to the French. Although ageing the F8 would provide a more capable CAP than the Skyhawk.
 

blueorchid

Member
Defence system could earn billions

Defence system could earn billions
by: BRENDAN NICHOLSON From: The Australian February 15, 2014 12:00AM

LAST year, during a naval exercise off California, a dummy missile fired at an American warship roared through the cruiser’s defences and slammed into its superstructure, starting a fire and injuring two sailors.

The dummy missile, with no warhead fitted, punched a hole half a metre wide in the port side of the guided missile cruiser USS Chancellorville, which returned to port for repairs.

When a similar American missile was fired at the Australian frigate HMAS Perth in an exercise off Hawaii, the Australian crew shot it down using technology developed in the suburbs of Canberra and Adelaide.

The Australian warship - dubbed “Robo-Frigate” by the navy after its exploit - is now considered the most advanced vessel of its class in the world.

Building on the spectacular success of the frigate’s homegrown missile-defence system, Defence Minister David Johnston has invited allied ambassadors for a briefing on it later this month.

Senator Johnston told The Weekend Australian the new technology had proved more effective and less expensive than the best in the world.

Those involved in developing the system say the Americans and several other navies have already shown a keen interest in buying the system, opening up export possibilities for Australian defence technology that could be worth billions.

HMAS Perth was the first of the navy’s eight ANZAC-class frigates to be fitted with the phased array radar and combat-management system, which proved able to defend it even against supersonic, sea-skimming missiles.

HMAS Perth’s commanding officer, Captain Lee Goddard, said the exercise was so realistic that, while the frigate’s crew knew missiles were going to be fired at them, they had no idea when that would happen or what direction the missiles would come from.

Captain Goddard said when a warning system signalled that a missile was on its way at high speed, a young sailor in the warship’s operations room had only a few seconds to respond.

Highly trained and acting instinctively, the combat-system operator fired two of the frigate’s own Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles to intercept the incoming ship-killing missile.

The first Sea Sparrow destroyed the missile and, to the surprise of international observers at the trials, the second hit the debris from that explosion.

Captain Goddard said the young sailor was at first concerned that he might have acted too quickly.

When he was assured that he, and the missile-defence system, had performed perfectly, the sailor commented that he was hungry and asked permission to go to lunch.

Chief of Navy Ray Griggs said the new system provided the warships with a significantly improved ability to protect themselves, and the area around them, from enemy missiles.

A Good news story:dance
Cheers
 

Trackmaster

Member
Defence system could earn billions
by: BRENDAN NICHOLSON From: The Australian February 15, 2014 12:00AM

LAST year, during a naval exercise off California, a dummy missile fired at an American warship roared through the cruiser’s defences and slammed into its superstructure, starting a fire and injuring two sailors.

The dummy missile, with no warhead fitted, punched a hole half a metre wide in the port side of the guided missile cruiser USS Chancellorville, which returned to port for repairs.

When a similar American missile was fired at the Australian frigate HMAS Perth in an exercise off Hawaii, the Australian crew shot it down using technology developed in the suburbs of Canberra and Adelaide.

The Australian warship - dubbed “Robo-Frigate” by the navy after its exploit - is now considered the most advanced vessel of its class in the world.

Building on the spectacular success of the frigate’s homegrown missile-defence system, Defence Minister David Johnston has invited allied ambassadors for a briefing on it later this month.

Senator Johnston told The Weekend Australian the new technology had proved more effective and less expensive than the best in the world.

Those involved in developing the system say the Americans and several other navies have already shown a keen interest in buying the system, opening up export possibilities for Australian defence technology that could be worth billions.

HMAS Perth was the first of the navy’s eight ANZAC-class frigates to be fitted with the phased array radar and combat-management system, which proved able to defend it even against supersonic, sea-skimming missiles.

HMAS Perth’s commanding officer, Captain Lee Goddard, said the exercise was so realistic that, while the frigate’s crew knew missiles were going to be fired at them, they had no idea when that would happen or what direction the missiles would come from.

Captain Goddard said when a warning system signalled that a missile was on its way at high speed, a young sailor in the warship’s operations room had only a few seconds to respond.

Highly trained and acting instinctively, the combat-system operator fired two of the frigate’s own Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles to intercept the incoming ship-killing missile.

The first Sea Sparrow destroyed the missile and, to the surprise of international observers at the trials, the second hit the debris from that explosion.

Captain Goddard said the young sailor was at first concerned that he might have acted too quickly.

When he was assured that he, and the missile-defence system, had performed perfectly, the sailor commented that he was hungry and asked permission to go to lunch.

Chief of Navy Ray Griggs said the new system provided the warships with a significantly improved ability to protect themselves, and the area around them, from enemy missiles.

A Good news story:dance
Cheers
But either sloppy writing or sloppy editing in a dumbed-down story.

There was early reference to stuff "developed in the suburbs of Canberra and Adelaide"

However, there was no expansion of this point or further reference. But they left in the "humanising" bit about the bloke on the buttons wanting to go to lunch.
 

Volkodav

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
And no mention of ASMD, CEA, Vampir etc. Doesn't comprehend that it isn't really an alternative to AEGIS either. Glad I don't fork out money to Rupert Murdoch for the inaccurate superficial crap his papers print.
 

ausklr76

New Member
But either sloppy writing or sloppy editing in a dumbed-down story.

There was early reference to stuff "developed in the suburbs of Canberra and Adelaide"

However, there was no expansion of this point or further reference. But they left in the "humanising" bit about the bloke on the buttons wanting to go to lunch.
I personally think its more the defence minister trying to release a potential good news story during a week of ongoing bad news stories. But i am sure if this government is involved in any way they will cock that up too!
 

ASSAIL

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
I personally think its more the defence minister trying to release a potential good news story during a week of ongoing bad news stories. But i am sure if this government is involved in any way they will cock that up too!
If you're pinning this on the politicians (forget the ideology) you have more faith in the defence journalistic fraternity than the rest of us here.
There's a long history of incorrect, bent, politically motivated, lazy and downright incompetence within this particular sub-class.
 

alexsa

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
I personally think its more the defence minister trying to release a potential good news story during a week of ongoing bad news stories. But i am sure if this government is involved in any way they will cock that up too!
Poliicians will always want to announce things they think are positive even where they may not be responsible for them.

Your comment adds nothing except to indicate your leanings. The AUSPAR treaty was signed in 2009 or 2010. The development of CEAFAR commenced with the previous administration.

Both were (and are) keen to see this succeed. It would be good if it does, however, the press reporting is pretty poor. If you want to add to this discussion why don't you look at what AUSPAR is about and comment on that.
 

rand0m

Member
These pics don't really do it justice, the Canberra really sticks out like a sore thumb when driving along The Strand in Williamstown. It will be sad to see her go!

I didn't realise that her flight deck of 202m is longer than what the MCG is from one set of goals to the other (173m).
 

John Fedup

The Bunker Group
If you're pinning this on the politicians (forget the ideology) you have more faith in the defence journalistic fraternity than the rest of us here.
There's a long history of incorrect, bent, politically motivated, lazy and downright incompetence within this particular sub-class.
Rest assured this is not a solely Australian problem. Examples can be seen in most Western nations, especially here in Canada.
 

weps1913

New Member
More to the story

And no mention of ASMD, CEA, Vampir etc. Doesn't comprehend that it isn't really an alternative to AEGIS either. Glad I don't fork out money to Rupert Murdoch for the inaccurate superficial crap his papers print.
Yes agree it was pretty superficial but the real story is far more interesting. The key here is that the whole ASMD system worked exactly as per spec and shot down the Coyote missiles coming in at Mach 2.5. There are not many navies in the world that have actually done that, certainly not in a frigate sized platform. The other major element is how much of this was done in Australia. Both the CEA radar (CEAFAR) and CWI illuminator (CEAMOUNT) were developed here and while the core elements of the Saab combat management system are Swedish all the radar integration, hmi and ESSM interfaces were done here. Also the work done by BAE Systems to actually squeeze all this into a frigate hull was pretty impressive.
 

King Wally

Active Member
Yes agree it was pretty superficial but the real story is far more interesting. The key here is that the whole ASMD system worked exactly as per spec and shot down the Coyote missiles coming in at Mach 2.5. There are not many navies in the world that have actually done that, certainly not in a frigate sized platform. The other major element is how much of this was done in Australia. Both the CEA radar (CEAFAR) and CWI illuminator (CEAMOUNT) were developed here and while the core elements of the Saab combat management system are Swedish all the radar integration, hmi and ESSM interfaces were done here. Also the work done by BAE Systems to actually squeeze all this into a frigate hull was pretty impressive.
A possibly noobish question from a civvy, quite obviously this system is built to defend against anti-ship missiles but does it serve any real purpose as an anti-air offensive weapon as well? Or are the ESSM etc just too short in range to target anything bar the closest offensive aircraft?
 

Todjaeger

Potstirrer
A possibly noobish question from a civvy, quite obviously this system is built to defend against anti-ship missiles but does it serve any real purpose as an anti-air offensive weapon as well? Or are the ESSM etc just too short in range to target anything bar the closest offensive aircraft?
At this point I believe the ESSM range is ~50km or about 27 n miles. Given the use of standoff/long-ranged AShM shots, I think it unlikely that a hostile MPA or strike aircraft would let itself get within that range of a vessel which could shoot it down.
 

ngatimozart

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
A possibly noobish question from a civvy, quite obviously this system is built to defend against anti-ship missiles but does it serve any real purpose as an anti-air offensive weapon as well? Or are the ESSM etc just too short in range to target anything bar the closest offensive aircraft?
I have a simalr question. Is the system able to deal with small fast surface targets? Not so much ESSM but the rest of it. Would be Pablo to track & illuminate such targets for other missiles such as Sea Ceptor?
 

Volkodav

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
Thanks weps, very informative.

My understanding is that the radars are scaleable and can be integrated with a variety of combat systems. This opens the possibility of a scaled down system providing a very capable self defence systems for a corvette sized vessel as well as for an upscaled system potentially providing superior to AEGIS capability at extended ranges.
 

gf0012-aust

Grumpy Old Man
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
Interesting article in ADM last week (subscription only)

It talked about how the RAN platform was nicknamed "Roboship" as it performed better than a USN counterpart in a anti-skimmer role using locally developed software.

according to the article the USN asset was struck and suffered damage but "Roboship" killed the incoming with 1st missile and the 2nd rapid follow on "killed" the debris
There is some chat about USN and some allies getting access to (ie buying) the local software mods

not on the net, so am assuming that subscription only article is being honoured by all subscribed readers
 

ASSAIL

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
A possibly noobish question from a civvy, quite obviously this system is built to defend against anti-ship missiles but does it serve any real purpose as an anti-air offensive weapon as well? Or are the ESSM etc just too short in range to target anything bar the closest offensive aircraft?
Not noobish at all. All anti missile/air capability is really AAW anti air warfare.
We used to have the RIM 24B Tartar in the RAN and considered it a very capable AAW weapon and at the time it was but by comparison it's effective max range was about 18 miles, far less than ESSM.
Unless you're shooting at ground attack aircraft as the RN did in the Falklands it would be unlikely that you would defend against anything other than a missile.
It would only be offensive in that it contests the airspace around a force.
 
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