Should this country eventually decide that the design of the
UK’s Type 26 Global Combat Ship would most closely satisfy the requirements of
the Sea 5000 future frigate program, then its introduction into RAN service
would almost certainly be based on the local build of an ASW version, and
Australianised in terms of combat systems, sensors, weapons and habitability. It
must also have long legs and be compatible for operations with the US Pacific
Fleet.
While initially no more than tentative, this country’s
interest in the Royal Navy’s proposed Type 26 design, as a candidate for the
RAN’s future frigate program, appears now to be a little more focussed with
confirmation by Defence Minister Stephen Smith earlier this year that Australia
would collaborate with the UK on this country’s future frigate requirements and
explore the possibility of cooperation over mutual design work for the Type 26
Global Combat Ship - a design that could meet the needs of the Royal Australian
Navy.
While the DCP provides little detail of the ‘next generation
combatant’ sought it is likely that it will broadly conform to new and emerging
concepts in the design of naval frigates of around 5,000-7,000 tonnes entering
service by the 2020s or even earlier. These concepts range over new
developments in hull design, stealth, propulsion systems, sensor technologies,
communications, offensive and defensive systems, computerised management
systems, sustainability and so on.
The Future Maritime Operating Concept 2025 (FMOC 25) sees
the future maritime force as being prepared to contribute to conventional
coalition combat operations at potentially high tempo and levels of threat
during the next two decades and that it should also be prepared to contribute
to combat operations against insurgent groups, including groups employing
maritime terror tactics.
It further suggests that the 2025 battlespace requires
highly responsive command and control systems and battlespace awareness to
ensure the effective engagement and prosecution of maritime, land and air
targets. And while the engagement grid should include use of lethal and
non-lethal systems, the FMOC 25 acknowledges the obvious - that the capability
to strike targets at sea and ashore is enhanced through the availability of
systems with increased range, speed, precision and responsiveness. So how does
the Type 26 GCS shape up against this backdrop?
It was only in March 2010 that the UK’s Future Surface
Combatant program finally got underway with a £175 million contract to BAE
Systems to undertake the assessment phase of the Type 26 combat ship due to
enter service in the early 2020s. This four year project, with a ‘go/no go’ decision
to come this year, comprised a joint BAE Systems and Ministry of Defence team,
to evaluate capability, availability, exportability and support options leading
to the development of a detailed specification for the ship and the design and
development of its systems ready for manufacture. Initial design aims for the
Type 26 were for a ship that was versatile (multi-role), flexible (adaptable to
changing needs), affordable and exportable.
According to reports, an initial baseline design suggests a
141 metre long vessel, displacing 6,850 tonnes equipped with a towed low
frequency sonar array and advanced air defence systems. It was also anticipated
that the Type 26 would have either an all-electric or hybrid-electric
propulsion system providing a range of 7,000nm at 18 knots with a maximum speed
of 29 knots. The ships complement was expected to be in the region of 150 plus
an embarked force of over 30.
By 2011, the evolving design showed a displacement of 5,400
tonne, a length of 148 metres and a maximum beam of 19 metres. It would have a
crew of 130 and berths to accommodate 36 embarked troops. It would have 60
days’ endurance and have a range of 7,000 miles (11,000 km) at 15 knots (28
km/h).
In anticipation of its exportability the design was now
termed the Type 26 Global Combat Ship (GCS) a multi-role warship designed for
joint or multinational contingent operations across the full spectrum of
warfare. Delivered in anti-submarine, air defence and general purpose variants,
it would be capable of operating independently or as part of a task group.
Australianising the Type
26 ASW Of most interest to the RAN would be the ASW variant whose
adaptability to the incorporation of Australian and US systems and sensors in
place of those proposed by BAES would be of paramount importance. Already a
high power phased array radar demonstrator, based on the Australian-developed
CEAFAR radar to provide the fire control search and track capability for future
surface platforms such as the Future Frigate, is proposed under a Phase 1A of
Sea 5000.
What else would we expect to include in an Australianised
ASW Type 26? Almost certainly a derivative of the fourth generation of the Saab
Systems 9LV combat management system which brings all the ship sensors, weapons
and communications into a single, highly-integrated entity.
Saab Systems 9LV combat system incorporating CEAFAR and
CEAMOUNT provides multiple anti-ship missile search, detect, track and ESSM
engagement channels. This latest combat system upgrade has also added Infrared
search and track capability to improve detection of low level anti-ship missiles
in the littoral environment and a Link-16 tactical data link.
It would need to incorporate low frequency active and
passive sonars in addition to the standard hull mounted sonar to protect a
maritime force against submarine threats. No doubt these and other sensors
would be provided by modern derivatives of the Thomson Spherion hull-mounted
sonar, the Petrel mine and obstacle avoidance sonar system, the Ultra
Electronics multistatic variable depth sonar system, the Ultra 2500
electro-optical director, and the Sagem VAMPIR IR search and track system.
Weapons would likely include a multi-cell Mark 41 Vertical
Launch System with RIM-66 Standard 2 missile and RIM-162 ESSM. At least two
4-canister AGM-84 Harpoon/SLAM land attack missile launchers, together with one
Mk 45 5in gun to assist in land attack operations, would be needed.
Is the MU90 lightweight torpedo still on the cards? For
self-protection the vessel would need Nulka decoy launchers, or their modern
equivalent, as well as multipurpose decoy launchers.
A major ASW asset would be the flight deck and systems
support for an MH-60R Seahawk helicopter equipped with dipping sonar linked to
the ships’ combat system. The MH-60R Seahawk helicopter supports a range of
missions including anti-surface warfare, search-and-rescue (SAR), naval gunfire
support (NGFS), surveillance, communications relay and so on.
In August last year, the UK MoD confirmed main gate 1 (MG1)
approval for the Type 26 GCS program, giving the go-ahead for an 18-month
detailed design phase leading to a planned MG2 decision for demonstration and
manufacture. The MG1 milestone marked the culmination of a 20-month analysis of
options undertaken by the MoD in conjunction with BAE Systems (as designated
lead ship contractor and systems integrator), the navy and other industrial and
government stakeholders. With MG2 anticipated towards the end of 2013 the lead
ship could be in service by 2021, some eight or nine years after main gate.
In January this year, the signing of a Defence and Security
Cooperation Treaty by British Defence Secretary Phil Hammond and Australia’s
Defence Minister Stephen Smith prefaced Australia-Britain Ministerial talks.
Reportedly negotiated over 18 months, Hammond indicated that
the new treaty could enable Australia and Britain to work more closely together
on global strategic challenges and provide opportunities for greater military
interoperability. Hammond has mentioned how the GCS would be an ideal program
for such close cooperation.
At this very early stage in the development of both the
RAN’s Future Frigate and the RN’s Type 26 concept frigate, there is one aspect
that particularly favours a collaborative RAN/RN program – the schedule. BAE
Systems has indicated that the aim is to deliver the first Type 26 frigate in
2021 well ahead of the planned Initial Operational Capability (2028-29) for the
RAN program.
BAE Program Director Geoff Searle said the company has begun
issuing invitations to tender to potential suppliers on the Type 26 frigate
program, most significantly in the propulsion sector. For RAN purposes
preferred propulsion would be based on the GE LM 2500 Combined Diesel or Gas
(CODOG) with two 9,000 hp diesel engines and two controllable-pitch propellers.
Design endorsement The UK MOD announced in August last year that the baseline
design and capabilities of the multi-mission warship, due in service after
2020, had been endorsed. That enabled the shipbuilder to move on to defining
the detailed specifications of the vessel. The schedule includes a MoD decision
on a development and manufacturing phase by early 2014, with construction work
on the first vessel expected to get underway by early 2016.
However the RAN will only acquire the Type 26 if it first
meets the RAN’s operational requirements in term of weapons, sensors,
survivability, range and crew endurance in tropical environments. It must also
be seamlessly inter-operable with the US Pacific Fleet and best value for money
when compared with other options.
End note: Perhaps a simpler choice might be the acquisition of
non-Aegis F100 designs from Navantia, providing commonality with the Hobart AWD
class. Major work would entail redesign to remove the Aegis system and turning
it into an ASW frigate!
The RAN could then boast an Armada to rival that of the
Spanish Navy!
