Robbin Laird, Author at Second Line of Defense

Industry and the Australian Arafura Class Offshore Patrol Vessel: The Role of Luerssen

Posted on March 18, 2020 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

03/18/2020

By Robbin Laird

The Australian Offshore Patrol Vessel or the Arafura Class OPV program is the launch program for the new Australian approach to shipbuilding.

Termed a “continuous shipbuilding process,” the core point is to have an ongoing shipbuilding effort, rather than a start and stop approach built around a single platform naval acquisition, one at a time.

But the new approach is more than that. It is about shaping a new industrial-government partnership and having a new role for the lead contractor working with Australian suppliers.

This article is the first of three.

I have had the chance to visit the Henderson shipyards, and an opportunity to talk with Luerssen and CIVMEC, the two partners in the Australian Maritime Shipbuilding and Export Group (AMSEG).

In a May 26, 2018 press release, Luerssen provided an update on their partnership with CIVMEC:

One of the world’s leading shipbuilders, Luerssen, has teamed with Australian engineering and construction firm Civmec to create a new force in naval shipbuilding and exports.

The joint venture, Australian Maritime Shipbuilding & Export Group (AMSEG), will partner Luerssen Australia, the prime contractor and designer for the Australian Government’s Offshore Patrol Vessel program, with West Australian-based Civmec, soon to list on the Australian Stock Exchange.

It is intended that AMSEG will play a significant role in the build of ten OPVs in Henderson, Western Australia and in driving an export shipbuilding business that will target opportunities around the region.

The joint venture will be chaired by one of the nation’s foremost naval experts, former Chief of the Navy, Vice Admiral (ret) Chris Ritchie.

“This new company will be governed by an Australian board and operate under Australian management to build world class naval vessels in best practice Australian shipyards,” Vice Admiral (ret) Ritchie said.

“We will invest in Australian skills and infrastructure and transfer expertise from SEA1180 prime, Luerssen Australia, to develop capability and support the foundation of a sustainable naval shipbuilding industry that is able to export to the global market.”

Executive Chairman of Civmec and AMSEG Director, Jim Fitzgerald, said the formation of the new company was further evidence of the commitment the SEA1180 industrial team had made to materially growing Australia’s shipbuilding industry.

“This is a huge step forward for Australia’s shipbuilding industry. It is an exciting development that will fully underpin the development of the new state of the art shipbuilding facility at Civmec’s Henderson headquarters,” Mr Fitzgerald said.

Mr Fitzgerald’s comments were echoed by Tim Wagner, Managing Director of Luerssen Defence and AMSEG Director.

“Luerssen has always believed in the vision of the Australian Government’s Naval Shipbuilding Plan and wanted to not only be a part of it, but to help make it a reality.”

“We set up Luerssen Australia in May 2017, today we have announced this important joint venture and later this year we will open applications to our program which will fund scholarships and apprenticeships for aspiring Australian shipbuilders. The future of Australian naval shipbuilding looks bright,” Mr. Wagner said.

In this article, the focus of attention is upon Luerssen; the next article on CIVMEC; and the third on the OPV team for the Commonwealth of Australia.

With regard to the partnership, Luerssen Australia Pty Ltd is the prime contractor with the Commonwealth and CIVMEC is its WA based ship building partner. The AMSEG JV is focused in the short to medium term on sustainment activities and future builds outside of SEA1180.

In the graphic below, I have conceptualized how one might look at the partnership between Luerssen and CIVMEC and the roles and interactive relationship between the two partners. This working relationship is clearly a partnership, a point which was emphasized throughout my visit to Henderson. It was highlighted as a collaborative, close, mutually shared objectives partnering approach for the partners.

During my visit to Luerssen at the Henderson Shipyard, I had a chance to meet with Enrico Kestel, SEA1180 (OPV) Training Manager and Mick Handcock, SEA1180 (OPV) Senior ILS engineer.

While I am not going to quote them directly, I will highlight takeaways I had from our conversation, my visits in Perth and Canberra, and my review of public statements, press releases and articles by other analysts of the program.

The first key takeaway is that the major challenge facing Luerssen is that it is both responsible for delivering the program to the Commonwealth and is also engaged in setting up a company in Australia.

Lürssen is an integrated shipyard in Bremen, Germany with habitual working relationships with their suppliers; in Australia, Luerssen is taking the Germany expertise in design and build and applying it to Australia but working with a new group of suppliers to shape the new build process in Australia.

The second key takeaway is that it is a new build process.

It is a digital design and build process.

The design is worked in Bremen, reviewed and confirmed by Luerssen Australia at the build site which for the first two OPV’s is being done at the BAE/ASC Adelaide yard at Osborne.

When I visited the CIVMEC facilities in Henderson, one could see the digital process in operation, where the robots under the supervision of the CIVMEC team were translating design to production.

A key advantage of this process is that the production process clearly identifies where the parts being fabricated have come from, up to and including the suppliers.

This leads to a significant quality increase as there is significant transparency through the digital build process.

In fact, Vice Admiral (Retired) Tim Barrett underscored the importance of the new process for the shipbuilding approach being put in place:

“The Luerssen -CIVMEC partnership is meant to create a new workforce under the tutelage of Luerssen (particularly in manufacturing in digital shipyards) rather than merely compete for an existing (pre-digital) workforce.

“This is an important feature in a long-term sovereign ship building capability.”

The third takeaway is that an ongoing dialogue between Luerssen and the team in the Department of Defence working OPV is absolutely crucial to the effort.

And in Bremen, there are members of the Australian OPV team as well working directly with the design side of the build process.

It is clearly crucial to align expectations on the project for both industry and the government, and the team talks multiple times daily with regard to the ongoing effort.

In my words, what is crucial for success with the new approach is “expectation management,” rather than having a requirements list operating as a sledgehammer by government to gain industry compliance.

It is a very different process if one wants to build a ship which is delivering capabilities for a concept of operations; rather than building a platform to a narrow set of pre-set requirements.

The fourth takeaway is that for the Germany company, it is operating in Germany with an Industry 4.0 process which is how the digital build and sustainment process is then realized.

For this to work effectively, all of the suppliers as well as Lürssen must have the proper data flowing through the system to ensure the kind of accuracy and predictability of the build understood as a workflow process.

A challenge in Australia will be for Luerssen Australia and the Commonwealth to have a supply chain that can operate at Industry 4.0 standards and provide the flow of the quality and reliability of the data required to shape an effective build process flowing into the integrated logistics process as well.

This clearly is a work in progress.

For the launch of the contract, the Commonwealth mandated a set of key suppliers, but in managing these suppliers and adding other Australian SMEs, Luerssen works a proposal to the Commonwealth with regard to vendors and terms of working with the vendors, and the Commonwealth then makes a decision for Luerssen to implement.

The tender for the Capability Life Cycle Manager (CLCM) role within what is termed the OPV Enterprise, essentially the combined Government and industry “sustainment team”, has just been released. An industry day was scheduled to be held on March 16, 2020 but was postponed due to the coronavirus impact.

But given the nature of the very different build process, it is clear that the approach to logistics will be shaped differently as well from a legacy shipbuilding process.

A key aspect of the ILS solution set will be to craft a fleet wide logistics solution for the OPV over the full Life of Type (LOT) up to and including disposal of the fleet.

How this will be done is a work in progress, and a significant aspect of the program going forward, but clearly, getting the work process data flow right in the build process will facilitate getting the work process data flow for sustainability right as well.

And that is a key part of the new approach associated with “continuous shipbuilding.”

It is not just about a build; it is about having a sustainable fleet built around a digitally upgradeable ship.

In a later article, I will address the configurability and modular aspect of the ship and why from the Navy’s perspective the design offered by Lürssen provided the kind of flexible space and power necessary for the projected future for the ship.

Appendix: The Key Suppliers on the Offshore Patrol Vessel Project

The above table comes from the SEA 1180 Phase 1 Offshore Patrol Vessel Public Plan published in October 2018.

This document added the following as well:

Luerssen Australia Pty Ltd, an exciting new entrant to the Australian defence industry landscape, is contracted by the Commonwealth of Australia (Commonwealth) as the Prime Contractor responsible for building 12 Offshore Patrol Vessels for the RAN. Construction will start in November 2018 and is expected to be completed around 2029/2030.

Luerssen is a subsidiary of a long established and successful shipbuilding group in Germany and it will quickly build its capabilities and staff in both Adelaide, SA, and Henderson, WA, to establish fully operational program management, support and engineering design capability. Luerssen has selected as its shipbuilding sub-contractors two key industry players which will offer maximum Australian involvement:

ASC OPV Shipbuilder Pty Ltd which will build the first 2 OPVs in Osborne, South Australia, and Civmec Construction & Engineering Pty Ltd, located in Henderson, Western Australia, where they will build the next 10 OPVs.

The current total contract value (until 2030) is $1,988 million expressed in constant year dollars exclusive of GST or $2,570 million expressed in out-turned year dollars exclusive of GST.

The portion representing Australian contract expenditure is currently estimated (prior to all sub-contracts being finalised) at $1,220 million in constant year dollars exclusive of GST. The AIC value has potential to grow as the program proceeds including opportunities to increase Australian industry participation linked with design reviews at ships 3, 6 and 9.

Luerssen has contracted with the major subcontractors identified in the table below to manage the majority of construction and supply activities associated with the program.

In addition to these shipbuilders Luerssen will directly engage a number of Australian companies including many Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to perform work under the contract. The scope of work to be performed by these companies includes manufacturing, logistics, engineering services, project management, supply of specialist equipment items and provision of contract labour supporting contract deliverable activities.

According to a lead in by WA DEFENCE REVIEW to a video interview they did in 2018 with Peter Lürssen:

As a leading global shipbuilder, the Lurssen Group has successfully entered the Australian market, and is now heavily invested in the build program for the Royal Australian Navy’s offshore patrol vessel.

In late October Lurssen Group CEO, Peter Lurssen, gave an exclusive interview to WA DEFENCE REVIEW and talked about the company’s current activities and future interests in Australia and neighbouring regions.

VAQ-131 at Red Flag

Posted on March 18, 2020 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

Electronic Attack Squadron One Three One (VAQ-131) assigned to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington participated in Red Flag 20-1 at Nellis Air Force Base as the role of air superiority.

NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, NV, UNITED STATES

02.07.2020

Video by Airman 1st Class Bryan Guthrie

Nellis AFB Public Affairs

US Navy Destroyer Visit to Cape Town Curtailed: A Coronavirus Concern Impact

Posted on March 17, 2020 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

03/17/2020

by Dean Wingrin

The US Navy’s Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Carney (DDG64) arrived in Cape Town for a planned port visit on Sunday 15 March, but all activities have been curtailed to minimize the spread of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus).

Planned as the US Naval Forces Africa’s effort to build global maritime partnerships with African nations in order to improve maritime safety and security in the region, its arrival was ahead of the ship’s participation in Exercise Obangame Express off Africa’s West coast later this week.

However, as a result of global efforts to minimize the spread of COVID-19, Spokesperson for US Navy Sixth Fleet, Commander Kyle Raines, told defenceWeb that all public tours and crew outreach events that were previously planned for the port call had been cancelled.

“The health and safety of our crew and host nation is our top priority,” he explained. “No one on the ship has visited any high-risk areas or has shown any symptoms to indicate that they should be tested for COVID-19.

“Medical personnel aboard the ship are monitoring all crew members and visitors daily for any COVID-19 symptoms and are prepared to take appropriate actions as necessary.”

Before leaving port on Tuesday 17 March, the ship was still able to refuel and replenish ship stores. Whilst most planned activities whilst in port were halted, the crew did experience “the local culture in vicinity of the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.” The ship also had the opportunity to host US Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa, Lana Marks.

Whilst USS Carney was in port, the US military’s Africa Command (Africom) announced that Exercise Obangame Express 2020 had been cancelled in response to the global effort to contain the spread of the COVID-19.

Obangame Express is designed to improve regional cooperation, maritime domain awareness, information-sharing practices, and tactical interdiction expertise to enhance the collective capabilities of participating nations to counter sea-based illicit activity.

With no further requirement to participate in Obangame Express, USS Carney will continue on its seventh patrol in the European and African theatre in support of US national security interests.

The USS Carney, operating in the US 5th Fleet Area of Operations, recently supported maritime security operations and ensured freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce while assigned to the USS Harry S Truman Carrier Strike Group and the USS Bataan Amphibious Ready Group before conducting a port visit in Port Victoria, Seychelles.

Following Carney’s patrol, the ship will return to its homeport in Rota, Spain where it will make preparations to homeport shift back to Mayport, Florida later this year.

Published by defenceWeb on March 17, 2020.

Australia’s Medicine Supply Chain Is Vulnerable

Posted on March 16, 2020 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

03/16/2020

By Air Vice-Marshal John Blackburn AO (Retd) & Anne Borzycki, IIER-A

In February 2020, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported that Australia is dangerously dependent on imported medicine.

The report referenced by the AFR was published last month by the Institute for Integrated Economic Research – Australia(IIER-A).

The report highlighted that Australia imports over 90% of its’ medicines and is at the end of a very long global supply chain making the nation vulnerable to supply chain disruptions. Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration has acknowledged these supply chain risks and have noted that at times there may not be enough of a specific medicine in the Australian marketplace, leading to potential weaknesses in supply.

Australia is particularly vulnerable to medicine shortages arising from factors outside our control.

These factors can include manufacturing problems, political instability, pandemics, another global economic crisis and natural disasters.

The COVID-19 ‘pandemic’ has seen a significant increase in public discussion about supply chains and exposure to shortages of critical items because of long, complex and global supply chains.

The pandemic could significantly impact the global medicine supply chain given the global dependencies on China’s pharmaceutical industry.

In February European Union health ministers raised concerns over the potential for drug shortages if the COVID-19 outbreak continued to keep China in a near lockdown.

Last week, concerns over supply chain shortages led the Indian government to place limits on the export of 26 pharmaceutical ingredients and the medicines and vitamins made from them. India is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of drugs, with the US and Europe heavily reliant on the supply.

A 2019 United States Congress Commission hearing regarding the US dependence on China for medicines highlighted that even the US, our largest individual source of imported medicines, does not have a robust understanding of its own supply chains.

The Commission concluded that an over reliance on foreign production for critical medication is a national security risk.

We would be foolhardy to think that our situation is any less risky.

The Australian national strategic stockpile of medicines and protective equipment has also been in the headlines.

The stockpile was established in 2002 as a part of the Government’s anti-terrorism strategy and is intended for use in public health emergencies such as pandemics and biological attacks. Images of the health minister in a huge warehouse can be vaguely reassuring to a population fearing the virus.

However, the IIER-A report concluded that while the national stockpile will be essential to protect Australians during a national health emergency, it will do little to help on a day-by-day basis if supply chains break down, if national distribution networks falter, if pharmaceuticals are contaminated or if the local pharmacy or hospital run out of something.

Last week, Australia’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said his department was “very actively looking, both internationally and locally” at sourcing key products, including drugs, protective masks and medical devices, in response to the disrupted supply of medicines and ingredients out of China.

Professor Kelly said that the two most crucial medicines the government would need to stockpile were antibiotics and antivirals.

This action does support the conclusion that the strategic stockpile is not adequate to address both a health and a supply chain crisis concurrently.

Of particular concern is the just-in-time nature of Australia’s supply chains.

While just-in-time makes sound business sense, it makes Australians vulnerable to disruptions in the supply chain, be they inadvertent or deliberate. The Sigma Healthcare boss, Mark Hooper, was reported in the AFR as saying that our three national wholesalers hold six weeks of products … If [the coronavirus] turns into a six-month exercise, then there are potential issues [with supply].”

So how do other countries address this issue?

Finland, for example, mandates stockholding levels on pharmaceutical companies, importers and health care units. Stockholdings vary from 3 to 10 months depending on the medicine; there are 1457 medicinal products in the list of mandatory reserve supplies that are visible to the public. Companies are compensated yearly by the Finnish Government for the cost of maintaining these reserves.

Australians have no such visibility of the details of their national strategic stockpile nor of stock levels in our commercial supply chain.

Photos of Health Minister Greg Hunt in a warehouse are not as reassuring as actual information. While it is not practical for Australia to become fully self-reliant, the resilience that would be provided by an increased level of indigenous, or more appropriately called ‘sovereign’, capability needs to be determined.

Clearly Finland takes a much more comprehensive approach to mitigating its exposure to supply chain risk and vulnerability that we do in Australia.

We need to have a robust analysis of our medicine supply chains and the Government needs to address any shortfalls in our national resilience before another crisis occurs.

Sadly, we may already be too late.

The featured photo shows Health Minister Greg Hunt touring one of the National Medical Stockpile warehouses in January.

SPMAGTF-CR

Posted on March 16, 2020 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

U.S. Marines and Sailors assigned to Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force – Crisis Response – Central Command (SPMAGTF-CR-CC) 19.2, work together, in Kuwait.

The SPMAGTF-CR-CC is a multiple force provider designed to employ ground, logistics and air capabilities throughout the Central Command area of responsibility.

KUWAIT

02.07.2020

Video by Sgt. Robert Gavaldon

Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response – Central Command

Working Amphibiosity with Japan at Iron Fist

Posted on March 15, 2020 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

03/15/2020

As the Japanese focus on strengthening the perimeter of their defenses of Japan, new systems are being procured and modifications to platforms being made.

The purchase of Ospreys and F-35s both As and Bs, along with the modification of Japanese helicopter landing ships are entailed as Japan looks to its enhanced island defense.

At Iron Fist, the Japanese and USMC have worked closely together in evolving the skill sets involved in amphibiosity.

In an article published on February 19, 2020 by Gidget Fuentes the working relationship between Japan and the USMC was highlighted:

This year’s Iron Fist exercise marked the first time this group of 310 Japanese soldiers – 3rd Company with 2nd Amphibious Rapid Deployment Regiment Landing Team – launched from a ship and landed ashore in a coordinated mission alongside Marines, who earlier had launched their AAVs from the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock USS Portland (LPD-27).

“We wanted to pursue the concept with them of ‘separate but synchronized,’ so headquarters and staffs working together and synchronizing,” Capt. Coleman Fuquea, an artillery officer and exercise planner with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, told USNI News. “But on the tactical level, U.S. and our Japanese allies would fight in separate battle spaces.”

While a platoon of Marines and Japanese soldiers wouldn’t clear a building together, they would operate together with “separate objectives, separate battle spaces,” Fuquea said. Planners designed the scenarios with two main battle spaces – one Marine, one JGSDF – but with “a synchronized mission and synchronized staffs to facilitate that.”

The JGSDF light-infantry troops spent several weeks training with various I Marine Expeditionary Force units at Camp Pendleton’s ranges. Then they embarked their AAVs and trucks onto Portland and Pearl Harbor at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., and trained and rehearsed beach landings at the offshore training range on San Clemente Island before the Camp Pendleton beach landing….

The Japanese force wasn’t training to seize an island – Japan’s constitution prohibits offensive military operations – but rather is building and strengthening its capabilities for maritime security, including defending islands from an invading force. The scenario is a real and ongoing threat to Japan, an island-nation whose 3,000-plus islands include contested claims by China and other countries, including the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.

Island defense is critically important, JGSDF officials said at the Jan. 21 opening ceremony, as activities along other fronts including North Korea and Russia threatens Japan’s security. Senior military leaders have been vocal, especially in recent years, over the seriousness of the threats that Japan faces, and particularly from China’s recent expansive operations across the region that have rattled its neighbors….

Like in prior years, San Diego-based Expeditionary Strike Group 3 is providing the logistical L-class ship lift for the soldiers, since no Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels have participated in Iron Fist, although several JMSDF officials observed the exercise.

“It would be great in the future if we could get a Japanese L-class ship here,” Fuquea said, adding “what we’d really like to see in the future is force-on-force training and have the U.S. and the Japanese more of a sparring-partner relationship. That allows unit leaders… to get a thinking adversary.”

Incorporating that into Iron Fist training in coming years as the Japan continues to build and strengthen its ARDB working with the U.S., he added, “I think it would have radical benefits to us both.”

For the complete article, see the following:

Iron Fist Teaching Japanese Amphib Force to Synch with U.S. Marines

From Marine to Artist and Poet: The Journey of the Life of Ted Pellegatta, Jr.

Posted on March 14, 2020 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

03/14/2020

By Ed Timperlake

In 1958 the Marines went ashore in Lebanon to save lives.

In backing up that Presidential mission a young Marine, Ted Pellegatta, was part of the security detachment for Admiral Holloway who served as the Commander-in-Chief Eastern Atlantic and Med Forces.

“Land the landing party” was ordered by President Eisenhower to bring some stability in the formerly peaceful nation of Lebanon.

Ike who retired as a five star General of the Army as President knew how to marshal the appropriate forces to bring regional stability.

The operation was called Blue Bat

President Eisenhower of the United States answered Camille’s request by forming Operation Blue Bat to intervene in the crisis.

The aim of the operation was to protect the regime against the Muslim rebellion and any intended threats from Lebanese rivals.

The strategy was to take charge of the Beirut International Airport, the port of Beirut and the areas surrounding the city.

Operation Blue Bat included about 14,000 men made up of 8,500 US Army forces and 5,670 US Marine Corps

Ted Pellegatta in leaving the Corps and becoming a civilian watched a generation of American wars that flowed through our history; Vietnam, Desert Storm, and US combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

All during that march of history, Pellegatta demonstrated and shaped his artistic photographic and poetic gifts in order to bring beauty and prophetic insights into the world.

He can be considered as “A warrior poet”

In his life’s journey, he has highlighted the beauty of Rappahannock County Virginia. It is a land of remarkable beauty on the eastern side of the mountains known as “the sunny side” of the Blue Ride.

He has produced two books of note which celebrate the beauty of the region.

The first is a collection of photographs reproduced in his book Virginia’s Blue Ridge.

The second is a recently published volume of poetry.

This book is entitled: Lyrics on a Page.

Ted Pellegatta, using his exceptional eye, has captured the beautiful visual images one of the most serene and scenic locales in America in his book, Virginia’s Blue Ridge.

From the introduction to his book, he highlights the focus of the book:

We Look but do not see

Here are a few glimpses

I would like to share with you.

His photographs have local captains like town roads, rivers and hollows: Woodville, Shade, Fodderstack Road, Jordon River, Jenkins Hollow, “Tally-Ho” (Hunt), Sperryville, and several shots of the most visual physical land mark “Old Rag” Mountain.

They are thoughtful insightful depictions of nature and of human endeavors: farms, cabins, cattle fences, and horse riders and hounds.

These images are symbolically connected to the dignity of being committed to the land.

The power of his work is lasting such that generations yet to come will have a pictorial legacy of what to always protect.

As inevitable development encroaches on the sunny side of the Blue Ridge perhaps someone someday will use Ted’s images in Virginia’s Blue Ridge and say please pause to think a little and do not destroy such beauty.

The young Marine who very early made a commitment to stand for something greater then himself in his most recent work is also a talented poet and song writer.

As mentioned above, his book of poetry Lyrics On A Page has just been published and some of the poems will be set to music.

One example of his poem being set to music is a profound almost Shelly’s “Ozymandias” warning set to his voice and poetry:

“Place to Be Rappahannock”

“Old Rag Mountain

“Here a Billion years hike to the top look around

“See what’s here

Before it’s gone”

America is blessed to have such people like Lance Corporal Pellegatta USMC 0311 (rifleman) who made his life’s journey from being part of a Presidential mission bringing peace and stability to the Middle East to sitting at the Headmasters Pub in the town of Sperryville, Virginia holding court on the pure joy of life.

Visiting HMAS Rankin: The Collins Class Shapes a Way Ahead for the Next Generation Australian Submarine

Posted on March 14, 2020 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

By Robbin Laird

On March 12, 2020 I had a chance to visit HMAS Sterling and to visit the HMAS Rankin, one of the Collins class submarines homeported at HMAS Sterling on Garden Island. When I informed a senior U.S. Navy Admiral that I was going to visit the Royal Australian Navy at Garden Island, he wrote:

“Awesome, say hello to the fellas down south, incredible team! And absolutely critical in/out of a fight.”

That kind of joint respect can be found throughout the submarine community which the US Navy has with the Aussies, the Brits, the French and the Japanese navies. In fact, cross learning among the key navies is a key path to driving innovation as new threats are faced and new technologies provide opportunities for significant innovation.

I was privileged to have as the host one of Australia’s most experienced submariners and the CO of HMAS Rankin, CDR Robin Dainty. And that kind of mutual respect and cross learning was highlighted throughout our time together.

We discussed a wide range of issues, but I am going to focus on a core one facing the transition in the Australian submarine force: how will the “living” and “evolving” legacy of the Collins class shape the new attack submarine coming a decade out into the Royal Australian Navy?

It is important to realize that the demand side and the concepts of operations side of innovation affecting the naval forces will be very significant in the decade ahead. This will be a very innovative decade, one which I have characterized as building the distributed integrated force or the integrated distributed force.

What this means for the submarine side of the house and for ASW is working new ways to cooperate both within national navies and across the air-naval-land enterprise of the allied forces. The decade will see new ways to link up distributed assets to deliver appropriate effects at the point of interest in a crisis. It will involve working new weapon and targeting solution sets; it will see an expansion of the multi-mission responsibilities for platforms working in the distributed force.

And the Collins class will be participating in this path of innovation and lessons learned as well as technologies evolved both on the ship or the extended battlespace enabling the evolution of an integrated distributed force.

I asked CDR Dainty how he looked at this period ahead and he highlighted the importance of the innovation which Collins was going through for shaping the capabilities which the new class of submarines would be expected to continue and to extend.

He noted throughout the tour, how technology had evolved onboard the Collins class and his expectation that a considerable amount of the ship’s digital and electronic infrastructure would be refreshed on the new build submarine, but that the core competencies being demonstrated in the evolution of Collins would remain central to the new build submarine.

The evolution between platforms and systems can clearly be seen onboard Collins. The Collins which was originally procured is vastly different from the Collins class today.

A key part of this is the Australian submarine sharing common combat systems with the US Navy, and having state of the art sonar systems onboard and demonstrated skill sets by the crew in key naval combat areas.

Because the US Navy is a nuclear navy, the diesel class submarines like Collins have very complimentary capabilities to those of the US Navy. A diesel submarine like Collins can maneuver rapidly in ways a nuclear attack submarine will not. It can operate in littorals in ways a nuclear attack submarine will not.

And of course, the nuclear attack submarine’s concepts of operations being quite different from that of a diesel submarine provides complimentary capabilities to those of a diesel fleet as well.

These complimentary skills will be enhanced as the evolution of the combat systems, notably the communications capabilities, evolve and allow for greater transparency for air and sea assets to work together in distributed operations.

The collaboration with the U.S. in weapons is another key aspect of cross-learning as well. The rapid evolution of the strike weapons and the evolving capabilities to support special forces or to envisage the coming of TLAMS to the Australian navy is part of the innovation which can be anticipated in the decade ahead.

CDR Dainty highlighted throughout our discussion a wide variety of ways innovation was ongoing with regard to the Collins class and how important he saw this innovation as shaping the way ahead for the new build submarine.

The Collins class may become a legacy class with the introduction of the new build submarine; but its legacy will be a living one as the concepts of operations, the collaborative skill sets, and the combat innovations of the decade ahead shape the legacy going forward.

In effect, as the shaping and evolution of the distributed integrated force matures, the concept of a submarine wolfpack will emerge but very differently from the World War II concept. That wolfpack will include a variety of task force assets being directed at the point of concern the crisis management or combat area. And will include not simply maritime assets, but air and land assets, such as ADA as well.

The integrated distributed force is being driven initialty with a reshaping the wolfpack for the air combat force driven by fifth generation aircraft but over time will encompass the entire joint and coalition force.

CDR Robin Dainty

Robin Dainty was born in Grimsby, England in 1967. His father had previously served in the Royal Navy on Minesweepers and Submarines from 1953-1963 and it had always been Dainty’s intention to follow his father’s lead. Towards the end of his schooling, Dainty applied to join the RN as an Able Seaman.

He joined HMS RALEIGH, the recruit training school in June 1983 and whilst there applied for submarine training as a direct entry submariner. Having completed his submarine training the following year, his first posting was to HMS Hermes (Aircraft Carrier) which came as a shock to both he and his family.

Shortly afterwards he joined his first submarine, HMS Revenge (SSBN) and was awarded his Dolphins in November 1984. Promoted to Leading Seaman in 1987 and then Petty Officer in 1990, Dainty served in HMS Ocelot (SSK), HMS Torbay (SSN) and HMS Talent (SSN). Having been promoted to Chief Petty Officer in 1998 he was then selected for Commissioned Rank and joined Britannia Naval College in 1999.

Dainty returned to the submarine service after a short period in HMS Leeds Castle (FPV), enjoying periods in HMS Triumph (SSGN) and two tours in HMS Turbulent (SSGN), the first as the Navigating Officer and the second as the Operations Officer. These postings allowed him to witness the full range of submarine operations, including service during both Gulf War One and Gulf War Two.

He successfully completed Submarine Command Course (Perisher) in 2007 and then joined HMS Vengeance(SSBN) as the Executive Officer. He had the honour to Command Vengeance for a short period and Vengeance was to be his last appointment in the Royal Navy, joining the Royal Australian Navy in May 2011.

Initial service was in HMAS Dechaineux, followed by two years as the Executive Officer of HMAS Waller. He returned to HMAS Dechaineux in November 2014 as the Commanding Officer, departing her in January 2017 for an overseas posting at COMSUBPAC, Hawaii. Having returned to WA in February 2019, Dainty was selected to Command HMAS Collins.

Commander Dainty assumed command of HMAS Rankin in January 2020.

HMAS Rankin

Based at Fleet Base West in Western Australia, HMAS Rankin is the final of the six Collins class submarines to enter service in the Royal Australian Navy. These submarines are a formidable element in Australia’s defence capability.

Rankin was launched in Adelaide, South Australia by Lieutenant Commander Robert Rankin’s daughter, Ms Patricia Rankin (on behalf of her mother, Mrs Molly McLean) on 7 November 2001 and commissioned at Fleet Base West, Western Australia on 29 March 2003.

HMAS Rankin’s operational characteristics and range have been tailored specifically for its defence and two-ocean surveillance role in the Royal Australian Navy. Designed to be as quiet as advanced technology can achieve, Collins class submarines have been developed from five generations of submarines designed and built by the Swedish Navy.

One of the first submarines to be totally designed by computers, HMAS Rankin boasts a vast range of features. They include a high-performance hull form, highly automated controls, low indiscretion rates, high shock resistance, optimal noise suppression and an efficient weapons handling and discharge system.

The submarine moves silently on electric power supplied to the propulsion motor by banks of new technology lead-free batteries. The batteries are charged by three onboard diesel generator sets.

The sophisticated combat system gathers its intelligence from its sensors, computes the input and then launches and directs weapons.

Since commissioning, HMAS Rankin has successfully conducted a range of activities throughout the region in support of Australian Defence Force exercises, operations and the government’s strategic directives.

HMAS Rankin is named after Lieutenant Commander Robert William ‘Oscar’ Rankin, RAN who distinguished himself in action during World War II. He commanded the sloop HMAS Yarra (II) and was conducting convoy escort duties in the Northern Indian Ocean when attacked by a Japanese force in February 1942. Facing a far superior force of three heavy cruisers and two destroyers, Rankin gallantly positioned his ship between the Japanese and the scattering convoy vessels. Rankin fought his ship to the very last in an intense exchange. He was killed when an eight inch salvo hit the bridge shortly after passing the order to abandon ship.

HMAS Rankin’s motto “Defend The Weak” is testimony to Lieutenant Commander Rankin and Yarra’s determination to defend the unarmed convoy ships.

The featured photo: Submariners pass berthing lines as HMAS Rankin comes alongside Diamantina Pier, Fleet Base West, returning home after the submarine completed a nine month deployment.

HMAS_Rankin_datasheet

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