Nothing much new, but an interesting mention of a new candidate for the SEA5000: Denmark is offering Iver Huitfeldt frigate.
Again, just in case anyone who cannot by-pass the subscription.
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"Tony Abbott fires first election salvo with navy gamble
The Australian
August 05, 2015 12:00AM
Brendan Nicholson
Defence Editor
Canberra
Tony Abbott has launched his first big promise for the next election with an ambitious $89 billion gamble on new warships and sub*marines for the navy, but questions remain about how many jobs will be created or saved.
Promising a fleet of sophisticated “future frigates” will be built in South Australia to replace the navy’s Anzac warships three years ahead of schedule, the Prime Minister unveiled phase one of an election pledge that he vowed would award the battered manufacturing state “first prize”.
The government said the plan would modernise the navy but it also hopes to shore up political support.
Conceding it was too late to stop some job losses in the shipbuilding industry because of existing projects coming to an end, Mr *Abbott said the former Labor government had caused the problem by failing to order any new ships during its six years in power
GRAPHIC: Overhauling the navy
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He said 2500 jobs would be created or saved as a result of yesterday’s pledge, under which about nine frigates would be built at a cost of about $20bn in South Australia from 2020. But the current workforce of 2000 is expected to drop to 1000 before increasing. The government was unable to say exactly where the 2500 shipbuilding jobs would be located.
The Prime Minister did not say whether the announcements could save Melbourne’s Williamstown dockyard, employing 1000 people, or the 500 jobs at the Forjacs shipyard in Newcastle, which both face closure for lack of work.
The plan to upgrade the navy also includes about $50bn devoted to building and maintaining a fleet of new submarines, which is a hotly contested contract among bidders from Japan, Germany and France. Mr Abbott and Defence Minister Kevin Andrews also announced plans to spend about $19bn for an undisclosed number of offshore patrol vessels, or corvettes, which will be smaller than frigates but bigger than the navy’s existing Armidale Class patrol boats. It has not been decided where these vessels will be built but The Australian understands there are likely to be about a dozen of them. Mr Andrews said more information would emerge in the defence white paper, which is expected next month.
Mr Abbott strongly rejected suggestions that the massive spending commitment amounted to pork-barrelling to shore up his government’s flagging support in a state badly bruised by the loss of manufacturing jobs.
His personal ratings, measured by Newspoll, show his satisfaction in South Australia in the March quarter hit the lowest level for any prime minister in any state in 20 years before partially recovering in the June quarter. “I’m worried about the defence of our country and I’m worried about making sure that government does not shirk the decisions needed to keep our defences in the best possible order,” Mr Abbott said.
Labor’s assistant defence spokesman, David Feeney, said the government’s numbers did not add up. “This is a bogus exercise that was purely about politics and not policy,” he said. “There’s nothing in these announcements to save Williamstown dockyard or Forjacs in Newcastle.
“And, worse, there is no prospect of this work starting in Adelaide until 2020, by which time shipyards across Australia will have been idle for years.”
Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst Andrew Davies said the announcement left a lot of unanswered questions. “This is a very big vote of confidence in an industry that has been underperforming,” Dr Davies said. “The government is making a substantial bet that by locking in work, they can get rid of a lot of the in*efficiencies that we’ve seen. That remains to be seen. Some things will get better and we’ll avoid start-up costs but this is untested.”
Mr Abbott said the precise number of jobs for South Australia would depend upon which vessel was chosen but the projects announced yesterday would save 1000 jobs that would otherwise have been lost.
“But the yard for building major surface ships will be here in Adelaide, because the infrastructure’s here,” he said. “Now, the subordinate yard may be in South Australia, it may be somewhere else, it may be at Williamstown, for instance, but the major focus for surface shipbuilding will be here in Adelaide.”
The key would be to get shipbuilding on to a sustainable “continuous build” program, Mr Abbott said.
He did not say how many of the new frigates, designed to destroy submarines and protect the fleet from air and missile attacks, would be built but The Australian revealed this week there were likely to be nine.
The naval shipbuilding industry fears massive job losses due to the so-called valley of death when current programs to build three air warfare destroyers and two giant landing ships are complete.
The government also confirmed yesterday it was putting an additional $1.2bn into the struggling Air Warfare Destroyer project, which has been stricken by delays and cost blowouts. Construction of the frigates is scheduled to begin once the third AWD is delivered.
“This is a historic day and this is a historic announcement,” Mr Abbott said. “What we are announcing today is basically a fleet build here in Australia, centred on South Australia, because we have confidence that a restructured domestic surface naval shipbuilding industry can be competitive, can give us the best possible ships, at the best possible price, maximising the local build.”
The British Type 26 Global Defence Ship is considered a likely option for the new frigate but while design work is complete, building of the first vessel in the class has not yet begun.
Two other European options are Germany’s very large Blohm and Voss MEKO A-400 RAN built by TKMS and the French FREMM multi-mission frigate.
Denmark is offering its hi-tech but low-cost Iver Huitfeldt frigate.
The promised white paper, now delayed until next month, will provide details of further projects including how many new submarines will be bought, at least eight, and possibly 12.
Japan, France and Germany are engaged in a competitive evaluation process and by late this year they must each submit options to build them in Australia, in their home country or in a *“hybrid” mix of both."
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