There is a lengthy article in the Australian today that contains some significant details of what Greg Sheridan thinks might be recommended in the Defence Review and AUKUS.
Key points are:
- RAN will get 3 more AWDs
– RAN will get 6 missile corvettes by switching OPV contract (Lurssen design?)
– RAN will get 6 not 9 Hunter frigates
– east coast SSNs will be based in Port Kembla
– Sheridan still argues for Virginia subs, admits we can’t crew them, then says we won’t start building to 2030 (I ignore this as a political defence of Dutton’s recent statement)
– tank purchase canned and Land 400 shrunk from 450 to 300 IFVs
– extra squadron of F35s
This is in addition to the previously announced emphasis on LR missiles, mines, drones and hardening northern bases.
The article itself is behind a paywall, and TBH I have no intention of giving any money to Murdoch. Having said that, for those who can read the entire thing, does Sheridan provide any sort of timeline or timeframe for when he thinks new destroyers would be ordered for the RAN, or corvettes replacing the OPV's, or even when the last three
Hunter-class frigates would be 'cut'?
I ask because of the headline with the article that "Australia must increase military power- and fast." With some of what is on that list, it involves things which are years away. For instance, if the plan for the
Hunter-class order and the National Shipbuilding Plan remains essentially the same, it will likely be nearly 20 years before the last of the
Hunter-class frigates is laid down. Whether or not the number is kept at nine or cut to six, those vessels are not scheduled to start construction until the middle of next decade Those last three FFG's are not going to be any part of a rapid buildup of Australian military and naval power.
As for the RAN getting another three AWD's... I had thought the
Hobart-class DDG's were now just referred to as DDG's and the term AWD was a thing of the past. Having said that, I have already raised, repeatedly, some of the issues with getting the kit or at least comparable kit, to fit to another class of DDG. If such a class were to be built for the RAN and intended to provide area air defences, then it seems unlikely that it would be fitted with a CMS other than Aegis or a derivative. Such systems take time to get.
As for a class of missile-armed corvettes replacing some of the planned numbers of OPV's... that would run into such issues as what design to use, how it would fitted out, where it would be built, and where the systems to be fitted would come from.
Again, these are all things which could happen, but a harsh reality many such speculators keep seeming to ignore is that if a rapid buildup is to happen, then anything which takes time to really set or accomplish is not viable. For instance, if gov't/the RAN had already selected a corvette design to serve as the base for an FSG and had an idea of what the minimum fitout would be, then contract work for the detailed design could be issued. Once that detailed design was completed, then orders for materials and systems could be placed and initial construction could begin but that likely would not be before the middle of 2024 at the earliest. That is also assuming that the RAN, CASG and gov't had been quietly running a major procurement programme in the background which had already completed first and second pass approvals and it would likely have needed to have been running for ~three years to get this far.
So, without being able to read the actual article, it looks like quite a bit of speculation involved and not grounded in realistic time constraints.