The Pacific Support Vessel, the myth, the legend, the facts, the fiction.
So what do we really know about the PSV?
In late 2018 in the lead up to the 2019 election, Christopher Pyne announced the procurement of the PSV, said it would be built here (it’s not, but more on that later).
PSV and HADR?
Here’s the problem, there has been no official announcement as to the ‘actual’ full role of the PSV in the public domain, speculation yes, but no details from the Government.
One can assume it’s a broader role than just HADR, and let’s be clear, the Australian Government is not short of HADR capable ships that can operate in the Pacific region.
There are 2 x LHD, 1 x LSD(A), their respective water and landing craft, 2 x AOR, ADV Ocean Protector, ABFC Ocean Shield, and shortly the PSV, ADV Reliant (which currently appears to be similar size/configuration to both Ocean Protector and Ocean Shield).
And let’s not forget other HADR assets from NZ, France and the USA too.
Getting hung up on just HADR is way too over blown.
The PSV and local build
Well that didn’t happen, yes it can be called a broken promise, and a lot of noise is being made about that from the usual suspects.
But let’s look at the evolution of the shipbuilding plan from the 2016 DWP, through to the 2020 DSU, and the recent AUKUS update when the switch from SSG to SSN was announced.
Despite the ‘loss’ of the PSV from local construction, the number of ships to be built in Oz has grown reasonably significantly since 2016.
* Choules replacement - originally the plan was for either a replacement LSD or an extra AOR, but not both, now Choules will be replaced by 2 x JSS
* Six additional CCPBs, may grow to eight.
* Mine warfare and Hydro ships - at the last election, 2019, there was a plan to build 2 x mine warfare and 1 x Hydro ship - but that changed in the 2020 DSU to 8 x ships based on the Arafura OPVs
* Lost builds - 1 x PSV and 1 x Young Endeavour replacement.
So?
Do we now have a PSV? Yes, is it the ship we were expecting? Due to lack of information from the Government, who knows?
Is Australian shipbuilding missing out on the PSV build? Yes true, but, as listed above there are numerous extra ships planned to be built since the 2016 DWP announcement.
Reference links below.
2016 DWP:
2016 Defence White Paper
www.defence.gov.au
2020 Force Structure Plan:
2020 Force Structure Plan
www.defence.gov.au
2021 AUKUS Shipbuilding Update
List of fact sheets for Nuclear-Powered Submarine Taskforce
www.defence.gov.au