Defence has issued a Request for Tender (RfT) closing in January 2023 for Air Droppable Sea Boats for Army and sea boats of up to approximately 8.5 metres for the RAN.
The RfT forms the initial element of what Defence terms the ADF Family of Sea Boats Acquisition, to procure the first two types in one consistent acquisition program rather than the previous ad hoc procurement approach.
The concept is based on maximising the commonality between sea boat variants to increase interoperability, training and support efficiency, the RfT states.
A longer term goal, not included in the RfT, is to transition ADF sea boat support into a single sustainment program aligned with Navy’s Plan Galileo, the network of Regional Maintenance Centres and the maintenance network of Joint Logistics Command, the RfT explains.
The first stage in establishing the ADF Family of Sea Boats is to acquire nine air droppable sea boats for Army, with the first three to be operational by 2027, to replace the current Army air droppable rigid hull inflatable boats which will be withdrawn from service in 2028.
For its part, the RAN requires 23 Navy Sea Boats to outfit the maritime mine counter measures and military survey vessels to be acquired under Project Sea 1905 and the nine Hunter-class Frigates, the first of which will be delivered in 2031.
Later stages of the program, as yet unapproved, may include the further procurement of sea boats to outfit some existing surface ships and the design, manufacture, build, test and delivery of replacements for Navy’s current fleet of 7.2 metre Zodiac J3 sea boats for the remaining surface ships.
Tenderers are expected to have access to and use a proven in-service design as the basis for the development of both services’ requirements.
ADM comment: There’s some history to the RfT.
In April 2020 Defence issued a Request for Information (RfI) to ‘gain an appreciation’ of Australian industry capabilities to design, manufacture and sustain military sea boats.
In October 2019 industry expressed its displeasure when Finnish company Boomeranger was selected to deliver two davit-launched 8.5 m fast rescue boats and one 10.5 m ramp-launched special operations boat for each of the RAN’s 12 Arafura-class offshore vessels.
In August 2019 an ADM article by Ewen Levick exposed significant shortcomings in the RAN’s existing fleet of J3 RHIBs.