The horizons of unmanned underwater technology stretch from meeting current operational requirements to future scenarios more akin to science fiction.

With Air Warfare Destroyers (AWDs) coming on stream later in the decade and the Future Submarine and Frigate programs on the horizon, the Royal Australian Navy’s undersea warfare capability is set to receive a significant boost.

Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) can provide a practical endorsement of its bid to supply Australia’s Future Submarine - a state-of-the-art shipyard with six submarines under construction, three more undergoing refit or maintenance, and ongoing research and development activity.

As Australia lurches unsteadily towards acquisition of new submarines, it's instructive and entertaining to consider another submarine deal on the other side of the world.

With industry still unsure on how the competitive evaluation process will work in practical terms, the RUSI-hosted Sub Summit in Adelaide was a timely opportunity to bring together an interesting array of speakers on the process and options being put forward.

Some conferences are worthy but reiterative, others are genuinely informative and have the power to influence, and such was the case with the Future Surface Fleet conference organised by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI).

The Swedes have been building submarines in one shape or another for over a century for both themselves and international customers. The pedigree has string roots in the Baltic but Swedish submarines are literally all over the globe.

At first glance, the photo on the wall of the Daronmont lab in Adelaide could be any employee’s holiday snap, the classic sandy beach and calm blue water, shot from a boat offshore.

One of Defence’s goals is to reduce reliance on large scale exercises through the increased adoption of simulation and each new project now has to consider how it can employ simulation to increase capability, drive down recurring cost and maximise collective training benefit.

Over the last century considerable resources were devoted to research into paint and camouflage for ships, especially during the two World Wars

To no-one’s surprise, the primarily anti-submarine warfare (ASW) role originally envisaged for the Future Frigate replacement for the RAN’s workhorse Anzac class fleet has been superseded by much broader requirements, including area air defence.

With the Boeing P-8A Poseidon established in US Navy service and the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton well into its test and evaluation program, the US Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) project is being monitored closely by the ADF as it seeks to inform its broadly similar Air 7000 program.

Tracking 2014-15 revenue of $1.2 billion, Austal is Australia’s largest domestically-based defence contractor but its attributes have tended to fly below the radar in its home country

With the purchase of the Air Warfare Destroyers (AWD) complete with the Aegis weapons system, ADM thought it might be time to have a look at what these ships can do in the ballistic missile defence (BMD) space. What can we achieve and what do we want to do?

The Australian Submarine Escape and Rescue System (SERS) is a unique capability. Even more so when you consider that a lone, local SME has produced a range of technologies that world leaders told them was ‘unachievable’ for some elements of the system.

While much of the ‘noise’ emanating over plans to acquire new submarines have tended to focus on their number, type and where they will be built, there are the more muted concerns of this country’s clever systems companies.