Royal Australian Navy Discussions and Updates 2.0
- Thread starter OPSSG
- Start date
Depends on the 'upgrade' being fitted / budget being available from the Pollies pockets to pay for it / space in the shipyard / suppliers availability.
Half a dozen other related issues could all cause problems / delays.
Can you be more specific on the 'upgrades' ??
Appreciate what your saying, however BAE offered a design to the RAN / CoA at 'a specific price', that effectively allowed Australia to 'build to print' a Type 26. The Commonwealth then asked for numerous changes to the design, to add RAN specific equipment & integrate equipment / remove things that weren't required. That tasking isn't in the bid price, so of course EVERY change costs money !
I'm sure anyone whose worked with American suppliers will confirm that the way they work is they offer a ship deign at 'X' cost. However, to actually make the ship & associated equipment work, plus 'additional changes throughout the design & build phase to introduce the LATEST updates, will cost 'Y', along with sundry design management costs 'Z', and finally, with subsequent modification costs'AB', to boot.
Nothing in life is for free & Defence Manufacturing is no different.
Preliminary, Delta and Final
.Many factors involved, first and foremost is "what does good look like" and "what is good enough".
What we are seeing with the Hobarts is what was seen as good enough wasn't. They weren't big enough, they, more importantly than the systems fitted, lacked the margins to easily upgrade them. There also weren't enough of them built to safely cover the inevitable upgrade periods required.
Is there a higher resolution version of this photo anywhere?
iambuzzard
Well-Known Member
It's an awesome photo. It deserves framing on the wall.
Not that I have seen. Even that photo is a screen-grab from the video released relating to the Tomahawk firing with the bosses all patting themselves on the back.
Clearly a press pack was released the day before the Ministerial release and associated footage / pics went out as they had the footage, clips from the Ministers etc in the stories.
But defence public affairs obviously struggled with releasing the same stuff on their own website, that they had no problem releasing to the media...
So the Ghost Shark by anyother name. Anyway a little more info about the Dive XL. As usual this information is more forthcoming from overseas sources than our own.
It recently completed a 100-hour voyage. The longest for a vehicle of this class. Next on the agenda is to complete a 1000 nautical mile mission. Ultimately it is expected to remain submerged for weeks at a time. Given that it is diesel electric with no human crew to worry about it may well end up on station almost indefinitely.
Anduril Demos Dive-XL Autonomous Submarine, Targets US Market
To attract US customers, Anduril Industries recently showcased the capabilities of its Dive Extra-Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicle.
thedefensepost.com
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My thoughts are the Japanese will likely use the OPY1/FCS3A radar package off the Asahi and Akzuki Classes for the upgraded Mogami. Pictures to date seem to show two radar panels each side of the mast (a big one and a small one), which aligns with this system. This radar is a dual band C-X AESA system using galium nitride and they use it for their "Tier 2" AAW platforms.
The OPY2 radar used on the classic Mogamis was a derivitive of the OPY1 just using the X band component, so it is an easy pathway to upgrade on a larger mast.
I would view that the OPY1 will be the baseline design for the upgraded Mogami, given it has a dedicated AAW function, and this is what we will get for at least the first three ships.
The OPY1 is however a reasonable equivalent to the ANZAC class ceafar package without the L band component. I suspect the upgraded Mogami could technically be fitted with the ceafar package, but don't hold your breath for this as an outcome.
Japan have aluded to codevelopment pathways for the Mogami, and it will be interesting to see how this theme develops. I personally have a suspicion that CEA and Mitsubishi may establish a JV for radars and pool their respective technologies. Both nations could win from this outcome. In my view, CEA have better radars and code algorithms. Mitsubishi have lighter panels for less top weight.
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Does seem to lineup nicely…
-Anzac mast, 6 faces and similar in size(maybe 10-20% difference) to the new FFM mast plus the same orientation(no panels looking directly forward).
-Unicorn antenna ontop of a 360 degree camera with 6 faces.
Might happen but it may take a bit of time to combine both.
-Anzac mast, 6 faces and similar in size(maybe 10-20% difference) to the new FFM mast plus the same orientation(no panels looking directly forward).
-Unicorn antenna ontop of a 360 degree camera with 6 faces.
Might happen but it may take a bit of time to combine both.
Attachments
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Going Boeing
Well-Known Member
My understanding is that the overall system weight of CEAFAR is not more than other systems but, because a lot of the electronics is directly attached to the back of the radar arrays, the weight is elevated whereas systems like the SPY-1D has much of the electronics positioned significantly lower in the ship.
It’s quite possible that the OPY-1 system used on some Japanese vessels also has the electronics on the back of the arrays which means that the upgraded Mogami design already takes the elevated weight into account. If so, it would mean less design changes to fit the CEAFAR system.
Like the OPY-1, CEAFAR radars also use Gallium Nitride (GAN) but, from what is available publicly, it appears to have more capability as shown in this article.
The CEAFAR Array is a fixed, active 3D phased-array radar incorporating latest technologies to provide unrivalled performance, at a price that is competitive with modern 2D radars.
The CEAFAR system is available in a number of configurations to meet operational, physical and budgetary requirements and is suitable for use in a range of military and civil applications including air and surface surveillance, ship self defence, Ground Based Multi Mission Radar (GBMMR) and air traffic control.
Utilising the latest Gallium Nitride GAN Power Amplification Technology the CEAFAR system is fully coherent providing outstanding performance in clutter of the littoral, its architecture is modular, programmable and scalable, with the smallest configuration being man portable and the largest suitable for shipboard applications.
The CEAFAR antenna array is a modular active antenna that uses discrete tiles as the basic building block. Tiles are configured to form array faces of differing sizes and band widths to meet the operational requirements of the host platform.
Features and benefits:
The features of the radar include:
- pulse to pulse frequency agility;
- full azimuth and elevation electronic scanning ;
- low probability of interception and high ECM immunity;
- fire control tracking of every target;
- high levels of redundancy and operational availability;
- field configurable to meet changing requirements;
- integrated with a full data fusion track
management and display interface; - ability to deploy antenna faces remote
from the processing system; - electronic self levelling capability;
- rapid deployment;
- no moving parts subject to wear and
degradation in harsh environments; - no maintenance required at sea;
- low RCS signature;
- can be configured in non-planar arrays;
- high efficiency, low power array;
- light weight and minimal lower deck footprint;
- modularised electronics allowing
installation into confined spaces; - minimal deployable infrastructure requirements;
- simultaneous multi mode operation;
- elevation scans beyond 60 degrees (no cone of silence);
- very high availability – soft failure through
multistep graceful degradation; and - able to be remotely operated without on site operators.
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Has the Mogami been selected? Was there a leak or formal announcement? I missed it.
Doubt it would be the current one, likely the new one or something like the export one they showed off at IODS.