Defence News.

topjars · **Posted:** Mon Nov 11, 2024 4:42 pm

Shep wrote:

Saw an article the other day about a training grenade that the army has recently had developed. This doesn't go bang when it "detonates". It makes other noises instead. Perhaps the "bang frightens :b toss:

the poor children.

I remember the wooden replica you threw at one of the landing party in front of the Chippy shop at Creswell :badgrin:

He shit himself :pottytrain5:

Hippy Chippy · **Posted:** Tue Nov 12, 2024 5:54 pm

The latest fortnightly edition of :salute1:

NAVY News :captain:

is now available below :down:

for your reading pleasure... :news:

Click on the image of 'The Steel Cat' :cat1:

above,

or the cover of the current edition below, :down:

to access...

:evil3:

Items of interest in this edition include:

.................................... • LEST WE FORGET: Paying homage on Remembrance Day – Page 2

.................................... • BLOODY GOOD EFFORT Coonawarra personnel top NT blood donations – Page 7

.................................... • MAJESTY MEETS FLEET Face to face with the King – Pages 9-12

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Stroppy Chippie · **Posted:** Tue Nov 19, 2024 11:23 pm

What has happened to the first two minehunters that were laid up
Can you buy an ex Navy Minehunter? We just did (two purchased)!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt9WcRvu6Ww

tafmo · **Posted:** Wed Nov 20, 2024 4:25 am

Pony wrote:

Seejay wrote:

News reports say that the RNZN has six operational vessels.

The way we are going they may end up with more than us :omg1:

Pony · **Posted:** Wed Nov 20, 2024 8:29 pm

From today's Australian https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation ... 6669c4b756

What do they expect from the Woke DEI influenced bureaucratic government that spends more time and money on making sure pronouns are correct than training to do the job required and providing the service platforms and material required.

I think the bulk of this is a major reflection on Campbell and his high heeled shoe wearing predecessor.

Would be interesting to see a comparison (if it existed) of any similar surveys done in the 1960's to 2000's

Defence chiefs fail the leadership test as troop morale plunges further
By Ben Packham

From left: Chief of Army Simon Stuart, Chief of Navy Mark Hammond, former Defence chief Angus Campbell, Vice-Chief of the Defence Force Robert Chipman, and retired chief of joint operations Greg Bilton. Picture: Defence

Defence personnel are losing faith in their senior leaders, with fewer than a third of soldiers and sailors now rating their commanders as effective, new survey data shows.

The 2024 “workplace experience” poll also reveals that despite years of effort to improve Defence’s culture, 37 per cent of personnel say they have experienced “unacceptable behaviour” in the past 12 months, including sexual misconduct and bullying.

The findings come as Defence faces a workforce crisis that has forced the government to spend $1bn on bonuses to stop its people leaving, and ask Pacific countries to allow their citizens to serve under the Australian flag.

The survey found just 29 per cent of army and 32 per cent of navy personnel felt their senior leaders were effective, down from 34 per cent and 42 per cent just three years ago.

Air force personnel were more satisfied with their higher-ups, with 37 per cent having a positive opinion of their commanders – a four-point drop since 2021.

The poll shows thousands of Australian Defence Force personnel continue to face inappropriate sexual conduct, as well as mental and physical abuse.

Across the uniformed and public service workforce, 7 per cent of women said they were victims of sexual misconduct, which the survey defines as “all potentially inappropriate sexualised behaviours experienced by survey respondents”, while 3 per cent said they had been sexually harassed.

Of both male and female respondents, 18 per cent said they had been bullied; 6 per cent said they had been discriminated against; 9 per cent said they had been the victim of an “abuse of power”. The survey found 19 per cent of ADF personnel faced a “high” or “very high” risk to their “psychological safety”; the risk was even higher for Defence public servants, at 29 per cent.

Chief of the Defence Force, Admiral David Johnston (right), with former Defence chief Angus Campbell. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Martin Ollman

The workplace poll was conducted in April, before the departure of former Defence chief Angus Campbell and Admiral David Johnston’s commencement as his replacement.

Greens senator David Shoebridge, who got the survey findings through Senate estimates, said Defence morale was plagued by weak leadership and “deep cultural issues”.

“People who have committed to serve in the ADF see these repeated failures in leadership and then see them get promoted. Of course this breeds scepticism,” he said. “Defence leadership continues to fail to meet recruitment targets and their answer is to come to the government for more cash and fresh outsourcing of recruitment.

“You would only come up with those answers if you first buried this data.”

Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst Euan Graham said declining satisfaction among Defence personnel in senior leaders showed there was “clearly something wrong at a systemic level”.

“Defence leaders always say ‘Our people are our most valuable resource’. So it’s clearly a worry when their best resource doesn’t have faith in them,” he said.

“Too often we focus on recapitalisation of Defence equipment but that’s all for nothing if you can’t lift the morale of the people who operate that equipment.”

Australian soldiers train in urban warfare at Shoalwater Bay during Exercise Diamond Run 2024. Picture: Defence

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the survey results showed there was still “work to be done” to make the ADF a “first choice” employer. “As the ADF transitions to an integrated, focused force … (its) culture must continue to evolve,” he said.

The government slashed its 2024-25 workforce forecasts by nearly 5000 personnel earlier this month as recruiting and retention efforts fall short of targets.

Its workforce plan includes a further $600m to pay $40,000 retention bonuses to ADF personnel to sign on for another three years, following a $400m pilot program that barely raised the size of the ADF workforce.

Poor recruiting in Australia has forced the government to look to foreigners to bolster ADF ranks. New Zealanders living in Australia can now apply to serve in the ADF, with eligibility to be extended from January 1 to Americans, British and Canadian applicants, and later to Pacific Islander recruits.

Anthony Albanese asked Papua New Guinean counterpart James Marape in April to allow his people to serve in the ADF, but PNG is wary of rules requiring foreign recruits to take out Australian citizenship.

PNG Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko said the country was keen for its people to participate in the recruitment plan but wanted to ensure that they returned home after their service to contribute to the nation’s development.

Pony · **Posted:** Wed Nov 20, 2024 8:39 pm

Some of the comments from the above post.

How many Admirals does the Australian Navy have? How many ships does the Australian Navy have?
David
32 minutes ago
The only thing that improves morale is performance. Performing teams get their kicks from progress. They have little time for anything but the task at hand. They don't need to bully or abuse others. To achieve that you have to have leadership that focusses on the performance of the team, not woke distractions.
ABC
13 minutes ago
ADF when defending Australia will be an extremely effective force. Fighting someone else's war in someone else's land will have negatives, no surprises here.
Greg
37 minutes ago
look at their "commander in chief" albanese.......he thinks war can be solved with HR safe spaces and woke culture.
Esther
38 minutes ago

Of both male and female respondents, 18 per cent said they had been bullied; 6 per cent said they had been discriminated against; 9 per cent said they had been the victim of an “abuse of power”.

The Defence Force is NOT a Democracy.

The second, third and fourth wave out of the trenches in Gallipoli knew what was going to happen, but they had their orders and Obeyed.

Your Chain of Command can tell you what to do, even if you don't want to do it. Which is why there is a Military Law "Failing to Obey a Direct Order"

I shake my head about Australia's youth and the expectations that they must have, when joining the Defence Force.

Effective Leaders can not be made, they have the ability or they do not. That being said, the Leader you want during War Time, is not necessarily the Leader that will be acceptable to civilians during Peace Time.

Esther's Son
SinG
37 minutes ago
(Edited)
I'm not surprised the number of recruitments are down and current personnel leaving the way they get treated when coming back from deployment. They put their lives at risk and then have their dignity and medals taken away from them by bureaucrats who have never been in a war zone and their focus on a WOKE agenda.
Greg
33 minutes ago
I doubt much has changed from the 1980's & 1990's when I served apart from there are now more senior officers & they have more medals & awards.
Peter
42 minutes ago
More than fifty years ago when Dad was a Wing Commander serving at Russell Offices he taught me that when people reached Air Rank/Field Rank they ceased being service officers and became politicians. How right he was.
Robbo
41 minutes ago
With Marles running the show and no new equipment what else would you expect.
Peter
43 minutes ago
There are now more Generals and their equivalent than at any other time in our history. Why, when defence personnel numbers are the lowest in decades? And then have a look at the personnel allocated awards in the New Year’s and King’s (Queen’s) birthday honours, most are desk jockeys!
John L
43 minutes ago
How do you lift and maintain morale in a peacetime force? How do you do this when attachment to values of country etc diminish? Does it take a war to invoke patriotism and participation such as previous wars? I don’t know the answers. Maybe society’s expectations of normal have changed. But whatever has happened in recent years has not worked, so try something else.
Mokka
1 hour ago
Traditional institutions like defence forces, police and religious organisations must adapt leadership to connect with a generation shaped by modern values. Authoritarian styles won’t work—leaders must embrace collaboration, respect, and adaptability to stay effective and relevant. The business sector has adapted and benefited.
Bozo Bill
1 hour ago
Defence concerns military might and (essentially) soldiering. It is not about DEI, gender, inclusion or any other social engineering initiative.
The ADF has lost its way and probably could not fight its way out of a wet paper bag.
Russell
1 hour ago
The reasons for this assessment from the ranks? The Peter Principle. Lack of moral courage.

However, I would also advise to take the survey results about unacceptable behaviour with a large grain of salt. While some of those who reported bullying / sexual harassment / abuse of power have likely made accurate assessments of their experience, a proportion of respondents are endorsing these items in the poll as a way of expressing their general dissatisfaction and unhappiness over things they dislike about life in the services.

In any case, the results are a significant thumbs down.

Unfortunately, with the recruitment standards being lowered to the lowest low, resulting in low quality people in the services (i.e. who are poorly suited to officer roles and / or with low resilience and / or poor job-person fit), the ADF needs to accept that these survey trends will continue for some time.
Neville
1 hour ago
The tragedy is that those in charge will not understand why or think it does not apply to them - and denial will be accompanied by inaction and or inability to fix the issues
chris
1 hour ago
One of the first principles of leadership is to back your men and women in your force. To turn on them in times when they are under pressure from ABC media is very bad practice. Leaders need to have experience in the field and know what their troops are going through. Bureaucrats can't run and effective fighting force.
Andrew
1 hour ago
Western armed forces are so woke I expect a university degree will soon be the recruitment pathway.
Dan
1 hour ago
(Edited)
Wait. So the brass and ALP want to enlist foreigners from around the Pacific into our armed forces.

And defense personnel are for reason losing faith in their chiefs?
LB
1 hour ago
(Edited)
When I joined the army it was to fight our enemies. Now leaders like Campbell and his replacements ban that kind of attitude as too aggressive, toxic and inappropriate. If ADF recruiting ads are to be believed, military service is 70 per cent female and all about self actualisation. Signing up for a very hard job where you get to fight our enemies and also one that comes to define everything about you doesn’t seem to be woke enough.
Peter
1 hour ago
Once they are selected for star rank, they become political animals. More interested in climbing the greasy promotion pole.
harry
1 hour ago
We now have a Whitlam disaster in front of us. Infarct worse we now need to move a lot faster than the Whitlam years. This government is so bad, words fail me.
MichaelT
1 hour ago
When it comes to this lot, the Australian Public morale is pretty low too. Wish they would learn to spend our money more wisely instead of burying helicopters
Peter
1 hour ago
Generals are bureaucratic, seat polishing, totem pole climbers. They need to do what Trump is doing and get rid of Woke from the army
Charlotte
1 hour ago
I would like to hear suggestions from the rank and file as to how things can improve. They probably have much better ideas than any consultant. And they have a vested interest in seeing real improvement.
Robert M
1 hour ago
Sounds like beat up story to me. Being in the ADF means being disciplined and those that can't handle being told what do will claim bullying. As for putting lots of males and females together in living arrangements that's bound to cause mayhem. Not a politically correct view I know but there it is.
Macavity
1 hour ago
No one wants to fight for this country? I wonder why.
anything to do with being ‘educated’ to hate it?
Red
1 hour ago
There are no more leaders in Defence, all officers are now politicians, just listen to them speak, the only difference is either a suit or a uniform the contents filling either is the same.
Nullius in Verba
1 hour ago
I’m rather over the DEI and bullying thing - here’s the real question:

Do they feel they are being welded into the best fighting force they could be?

As&Va
1 hour ago
Well if you constantly hear that the country you are supposed to fight and die for is stolen land can you blame the military men and women from being disheartened?
Maybe also the males in the forces feel undervalued and constantly at risk of being accused of sexual misoconduct.
Gary
1 hour ago
The entire recruitment strategy that was applied within Australia for the defence forces was the worst recruitment campaign or should I say campaigns I have ever witnessed. Having been in the recruitment space for three decades, it astounds me that a positive recruitment strategy for young males and females could not be put together to encourage better take-up of defence forces positions.
Rock Doctor
1 hour ago
At the end Rome was using non empire troops
John
1 hour ago
The public has lost confidence in commander and chief Albanese and this has resonated down the chain of command.
Kyle @Redfern
1 hour ago
Did this survey conflate actual sexual harassment with people self-reporting other people who stare, leer, or ask 'intrusive' questions? If so, how can we trust these numbers?

Either way, Defence leadership act more like senior public servants than soldiers, sailors, or airmen and women; remote and unaccountable. Moreover, Defence procurement is a joke.
Newport
1 hour ago
Almost all western institutions have suffered for 20 years of the curse of wokeness, where those promoted have to show the right thoughts on diversity, inclusiveness, equality, equity, and other fun things (oh... I forgot climate change).

In many government institutions, the damage to effectiveness is masked for a long time, and even when effectiveness disappears (such as in the Reserve Bank), no cost is there for the incumbents, only the poor suffering Australians.

However, in the military, reality doesn't care if you are inclusive. Reality cares if you can kill the enemy better than he kills you.

And the troops know it. hence the low morale.
Brutus Wessex
1 hour ago
Oh goodie the Australian Foreign Legion.
With citizenship at the end of a five year enlistment...
We should be flooded with applicants.
Scott
1 hour ago
I don't expect or want the ADF to be a “first choice” employer. I want the ADF to be a lethal fighting force that is capable of protecting Australia and her interests.
Stevie
1 hour ago
(Edited)
Sad…. very sad indeed. The armed forces offered a great career in decades gone by. Now you would not encourage a loved one to join the force. Sad particularly for the future of our country.
Dinosaur Dave
1 hour ago
It’s not the ADF I joined. It started to deteriorate some years ago. So sad.
Texas Jack
1 hour ago
ADF morale? Plummeting? It’s a wonder it had any sort of a level to plummet from.
John
1 hour ago
The fact that soldiers. sailors and airmen have relatively low expectations of their officers in peacetime is no surprise to me.

When the defence force mounts operations many of these attitudes change. But leaders who perform poorly are still resented, however leaders who the rank and file consider perform well are better respected.

It seems to me that as soon as the government with the assistance of the last 2 CDFs decided that the ADF should be an organisation focused on social engineering rather than war fighting the lower ranks were always going to be unimpressed.

It should never be forgotten that the sole task of the ADF is to have the skills and equipment be able to kill adversaries and potential adversaries more effectively than they can kill them.

David
1 hour ago
I am sure an injection of Greens culture is just what is needed to boost moral and improve the fighting capabilities of our defence force
Glenn
1 hour ago
The rot always starts at the top and then filters down..................................
Sharpie
1 hour ago
What do we expect. The ADF has been under sourced for years but this left wing Labor government has stripped the Air Force of new aircraft cutting our order for the F 35’s by 50%. The Navy has no new ships and the ones we have would be death traps in a combat zone as they are incapable of defending themselves, the submarine flotilla is a joke but it’s not funny. The Army likewise has had the ordered mobile artillery cancelled, the order for infantry combat vehicles has been halved so leaving our troops with very little support in combat. Across the ADF we have no drones and those we were going to acquire have been cancelled. Meanwhile the woke command of the ADF has its head firmly up their backsides in their comfortable offices in Canberra. No wonder recruitment and retention has dropped off the cliff.
Comeonnow
1 hour ago
No surprise, military leaders should focus solely on preparing for, and winning wars. Woke causes lose wars.
Tim
1 hour ago
Tell a generation they should be ashamed of their national identity and they are now struggling to retain/attract people to fight for the country. Gee - who would have thought???
R & B
31 minutes ago
@Tim nailed it Tim
Peter
1 hour ago
No surprise to anyone observing the debacle that Defence has become over the last two decades! Tragic!
Mark 63A
1 hour ago
29% of Defence Department Public Servants think there is a risk to their Psychological Safety. What in Canberra! The Defence Department should move to where the Soldiers, Sailors and RAAF personnel are located. That’s Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Townsville. Mark 63A
Beta Albo
1 hour ago
Another woke organisation now.

Don
1 hour ago
as troop morale plunges further

An observation most of us have made through the media or someone we know in the Defence forces.
Tony
1 hour ago
And will our PM have the courage (the guts) to address this monumental failure of military leadership? Trump is on a mission to address leadership failings in the US military. We need the same here.
In The Interests Of Australia
1 hour ago
I left the reserves due to the nonsensical woke policies that have been implemented since the mid 2000’s. It’s the military not a social engineering experiment!
TIM B.
1 hour ago
(Edited)
The Pacific countries are lucky if their soldiers get to serve under our flag. Our own soldiers have to serve under three flags, thanks to Albanese and Labor. This mob of “leaders” need a good dose of the Trump/Hegseth doctrine.
Bill
1 hour ago
Next thing we will know is Albo will be asking Chinese nationals to serve in ADF
Greg
1 hour ago
(Edited)
The levels of harassment and/or bullying appear to be well below a number of state and commonwealth government and non government organisations (have a look at the stats for health and education for example). They don’t explain the low levels of satisfaction with management.
Rodney
1 hour ago
As a serviceman of 47 years there is a leadership truism. “Trust begets trust, loyalty begets loyalty”. Defence senior leadership shows little loyalty and trust to the troops and of course they walk. CDF wanted to remove medals etc from his juniors without having the courage to begin with him. They took away long held group symbol. Recruitment ads focus on women doing non military things and when reality of training bites they realise it was a con. What is the answer? Simply reduce the number of senior starred officers by half. Most of them deal with wokeism and the positions are unnecessary. Make senior officers accountable when they sign off on bad advice or poor decisions. A senior non commissioned person is accountable but not those above.
The Bright Light
1 hour ago
General Sir John Wilton set standards during his tenure as commander of the army and then the defence force that none of his successors have been able to match.
Peter
1 hour ago
You can’t expect the ADF to be at the top of their game when you have so many incompetent leaders. Look at our Defence Minister useless. The top brass have to be replaced as they’re only worried about gender diversity.
Trevor
1 hour ago
Wait until a large contingent are locked up in nuclear subs for months at a time. The cleanout needs to happen pretty soon. And it needs to start at the vey top where virtue signallers are oh so woke worrying about gender and multi racial quotas instead of talent and resilience.
Glen
1 hour ago
And people are surprised because …?
Wake_Up_Australia
44 minutes ago
@Glen Just like other Western defence forces. Woke has taken over
Salamano
1 hour ago
(Edited)
Surely when any foe realises how we progressives are, and how we can make good coffee, any conquering army will let some of us work as maids, butlers or other house servants for them. Plus the USA will always save us, especially now that we have the world’s greatest Ambassador, Kevin the Great, in Washington.
william
1 hour ago
thank you labor, thank you teals, thank you all the wokish graduates ... go read huxley's island, that is if you know who huxley is or rather was
James
39 minutes ago
@william But the biggest decline started and continued under Coalition government of the past 10 years, ALP merely extended that fine tradition of making lots of grand announcements and wasting billions in procurement that ends in us getting nothing.
LMA
1 hour ago
Like all leadership…it starts at the top…if that person isn’t right nothing will be…
Anthony
1 hour ago
As a recently departed defence member with 20 years service and a taxpayer it’s important to remember ADF leadership is responsive to the environment created by the Minister, CDF and Secretary. Marles, Moriarty and Campbell are the worst I have experienced in my time by far. Defence exists to apply military power. Government and the above leaders seem to believe it is instead a tool for progressive cultural research. Focus the ADF on bring brilliant at warfighting, resource it for that task and get it ready for the uncertain environment we find ourselves in. lets stop wasting time with endless DEI policies, bureaucratic madness and governance red tape. And please don’t vote this government in for another wasted term.
So where's the laptop?
1 hour ago
Excellent
Robbo
42 minutes ago
@Anthony Spot on and thankyou for your service..
John L
41 minutes ago
@Anthony thanks Anthony - appreciate those insights
ALS Librarian
1 hour ago
Question why it is that we now have to look to bolster our defence force with people from other countries, mainly the pacific nations and not from those other main immigrant countries (middle east etc). Won't be long before we do not have a defence force willing to defend this country!
Peter
49 minutes ago
@ALS Librarian We only have enough ammunition to fight a war for seven days anyway. And enough fuel stocks to last the country for fourteen days.
James
38 minutes ago
@ALS Librarian I think we are nearly there already!
Sage View
1 hour ago
When Defence leaders succumb to civilian ‘woke’ values to achieve career advancement, little wonder the troops feel abandoned?
Calvin
1 hour ago
Any thought given to the fact our Defence Minister refuses to be referred to as such, but rather our Deputy Prime Minister. Even the most junior recruits take note of this, with a corresponding decline in faith in their senior leaders.
Richard:
1 hour ago
Wayne Bennett...both have team environments, both have to meet exacting standards, all players playing under Wayne love him.....

No brainer???
Skitragic
2 hours ago
When I joined the Navy in 1964, NCO's were the backbone of my department and the majority were really talented people. Our officers were generally recognised as competent.

Later in the 60's, less skilled people were being promoted and they were not shall I say people friendly which didn't contribute to their success in the job.

It also caused the talented people to reject promotion and leave the Navy when their contract was up. It was sad to watch and no one seemed to care...
Anne
44 minutes ago
@Skitragic If this was over 50 years in the making then we really do have some work to do and won’t be able to do it unaided. Where do we turn? The whole Anglo-sphere seems affected. Husband
Swanny
2 hours ago
Need a Trump type appointment to clear out the leadership which has been appalling for some years . Our national security is in the hands of wimpy, woke ridden group which has forgotten its primary role.
Grahame
2 hours ago
They need to drop the woke nonsense and start training for the day when they are really needed.
Christine
49 minutes ago
@Grahame With all electric Bushmasters? With the attitude of the present Government how can morale be anything but in decline?
Bernie
2 hours ago
(Edited)
Trump is going to sort out the US Admirals and Generals, clearing away the Folks of Woke.

That should happen here, too - but never will under a Labor government, to which all things PC are the nectar of the gods.

The extent to which the ADF has been gripped by Woke is appalling.

Anybody going beyond LTCOL has to be a card-carrying Wokester.

It's been like that for the last 20 years.

Peter
43 minutes ago
@Bernie 20 years ago John Howard was PM unitl 2007. Then from 2013-2022 we had another 9 years of Coalition government. So what did they do to fix the military? Nothing.
Andrew M2
2 hours ago
But but but...

Defence is going net zero! Morale must be up!
Allan M
2 hours ago
(Edited)
When you have told your own population they are racist living on stolen land and they are killing the planet (even if you are contributing 1% of total "pollution") your national flag is relegated to 2nd place, it is hard to generate national pride.

The age range required for armed services has constantly told this while in the education system by woke teachers, many who seem to hate todays Australia, it will be difficult to find people who may have to lay their life on the line whatshot25rea

Thee flags Albanese cannot give the national flag the prime and only position it deserves
Mike
1 hour ago
@Allan M mate you are spot on!
Vinita
2 hours ago
Might the drop in morale have to do with woke policies?
Adam
1 hour ago
@Vinita Yes , it has everything to do with that .
Joanna(1)
2 hours ago
Not surprising morale is low. Too much woke, certainly not enough support from the senior officers when any in the military are continually accused of actually behaving like soldiers.
1202 Alarm
2 hours ago
All leave will be cancelled until morale improves.
P
2 hours ago

with fewer than a third of soldiers and sailors now rating their commanders as effective, new survey data shows.

I'd be interested as to what % bothered to respond to the survey at all.
Reprobatus
2 hours ago
Go woke, go broke! The same applies to our military and police. Both also woke and broke. No longer fit for purpose.
L&P-B
2 hours ago
Why on earth would you want to join the army?
MGH
1 hour ago
@L&P-B ...woke central under immediate past and now present leadership. Right you are to ask that question.

Hippy Chippy · **Posted:** Sat Nov 23, 2024 7:23 pm

The latest fortnightly edition of :salute1:

NAVY News :captain:

is now available in the post below :down:

for your reading pleasure... :news:

Hippy Chippy · **Posted:** Sat Nov 23, 2024 7:23 pm

The latest fortnightly edition of :salute1:

NAVY News :captain:

is now available below :down:

for your reading pleasure... :news:

Click on the image of 'The Steel Cat' :cat1:

above,

or the cover of the current edition below, :down:

to access...

:evil3:

Items of interest in this edition include:

.................................... • FIRING LINE: Forces flex high-seas firepower on Ex Keris Woomera – Page 2

.................................... • ALL BARK AND BITE: Brisbane’s crew meet four-legged heroes in San Diego – Page 9

.................................... • TOP SHOTS: Stand-out imagery from Sydney’s RPD – Pages 10-11

.........................NAVY NEWS is the official publication of The Royal Australian Navy.

.....................To read the latest editions of Army News and Air Force News click :type:

HERE.

Click here to view Defence Privacy Policy: :type:

https://www.defence.gov.au/Publications ... rivacy.asp

Department of Defence ABN: 68706814312 - R1-GF-C049 PO Box 7901 Canberra BC ACT 2610 AUSTRALIA Ph: (07) 3903 8512

Seejay · **Posted:** Fri Nov 29, 2024 9:44 am

Not heard anything about the OPV - Arafura Class recently...?

This from the Strategic Analysis Australia magazine. :faaaarrk:

Last year the US Navy’s Ghost Fleet visited Australia. This squadron consists of uncrewed surface vessels that are capable of long-range autonomous operations, a capability the Royal Australian Navy doesn’t yet have. But Australia does have its own ghost fleet: the Arafura-class offshore patrol vessels, a $4.7 billion program that has mysteriously disappeared from view.
The OPV program was approved by the previous Government in 2017. At a time when it was preoccupied with unauthorised arrivals by sea, an improved maritime constabulary capability that could operate in the conditions that were pounding and breaking the Navy’s Armidale-class patrol boats was a high priority.

Like the future frigate program that was making its way through Defence’s labyrinthine process map at the same time, SEA 1180, the OPV project, was meant to pick a mature, in service design that would minimise risk and be quickly built. Unlike the future frigate program, Defence did in fact select a mature, in service OPV design—the German company Luerssen’s OPV80 that was already in service with the Bruneian navy as the Darussalam class. Luerssen optimistically saw SEA 1180 as a key first step into the growing Indo-Pacific market.

With a budget of $4,689 million, SEA 1180 was to build 12 of the 1640 tonne vessels to be named the Arafura class in Australian service. And with an experienced designer and shipbuilder as the prime contractor and a mature design, what could go wrong?
There were a few wrinkles at the start. For example, the Government was equally preoccupied with the optics of a shipbuilding ‘valley of death’ at Osborne in Adelaide and so directed the first two of the 12 ship class be built in there to bridge the ‘gap’ between the end of the Hobart destroyer program and the start of frigate construction. The remaining 10 were to be built at Henderson in Western Australia by Luerssen’s partner, Civmec, a company with deep experience in complex manufacturing for the resource sector, but little in shipbuilding.

Nevertheless, things started well. The construction of the first ship commenced on schedule and even ahead of schedule on the first one in Western Australia. In October 2020 the ANAO release a performance audit of the project. Compared to the ANAO’s dismal assessment of most Defence projects, SEA 1180 received an almost glowing review. Things were going so well that the previous Government announced in January 2021 that a new class of mine warfare vessels would be based on the Arafura design (whether it was an appropriate design for that role is a separate issue).

Yet in time-tested fashion, Defence has managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. First there was the gun. Defence had selected the OTO Marlin 40mm gun for the Arafura rather than the Bofors 57mm gun in the original design, but ultimately admitted it couldn’t integrate it into the vessel. Instead it would use recycled 25mm canons from the Armidales. Since the Navy had already removed the anti-ship missiles from the original design in Bruneian service, and the Arafura couldn’t embark a combat helicopter, the new vessel would have no more firepower than a patrol boat one-fifth its size. Its lack of warfighting capability would come back to haunt it.

Then came delays. Initial Materiel Release (i.e. delivery of the first vessel) was originally planned for December 2021. This was moved to January 2024 but does not appear to have happened yet. Initial Operational Capability (i.e., first vessel able to conduct operations) was originally planned for December 2022. This was moved to August 2024 but has not been achieved either (Defence has not responded to our requests for confirmation of IMR and IOC dates).

Ultimately the Government placed SEA 1180 on the projects of concern on 20 October 2023, the naughty corner for Defence’s most underachieving projects, but didn’t publicly state why or what needed to be done to remediate the project (which reminds me, where’s that other ghost project on the projects of concern list, the Civil Military Air Traffic Management System?).
How did the Arafura end up there? Some delays are attributed to Covid-19, but the ANAO MPR states that ‘in 2022, Defence identified that changes were required to improve the structural fire protection of the ship and other safety design changes, prior to conducting sea acceptance trials.’ It’s one of the iron laws of shipbuilding that the later in a project that design changes are introduced, the greater the cost and schedule implications will be. Since construction of the first ship has been completed, the flow-on effects of design changes will be very significant.

But one can only wonder how Defence selected a mature, in-service design that has such significant fire safety issues that it can’t be brought into service. Did no one examine the ship’s fire protection when candidate vessels were being considered? Or did the Navy identify it as an issue at the time but simply assume it could certify the ship anyway because it’s, well, the Navy? Or has it changed its seaworthiness standards or risk appetite since the original selection? Certainly adequate fire protection at sea is essential, as the sad case of the HMNZS Manawanui reminds us. Whatever happened, the philosophy of delivering a mature, in-service design does not appear to have resulted in success.

The big blow, however, came in the recommendations of the 2024 Enhanced Lethality Surface Fleet Review that followed the 2023 Defence Strategic Review. The Surface Fleet Review assessed that, ‘The OPV is an inefficient use of resources for civil maritime security operations and does not possess the survivability and self-defence systems to contribute to a surface combatant mission. Therefore the number of OPVs to be acquired should be reduced from 12 to six….’ Essentially the review concluded what should have always been apparent, namely that in an age of great power tensions, a medium-sized navy couldn’t afford the luxury of spending nearly $4.7 billion on 12 1640-tonne constabulary vessels that have no warfighting capability.

The Government accepted that recommendation and the program has been curtailed to six vessels, essentially those already under construction. But it’s doubtful whether there will be significant savings; at the start of this financial year, the project had already spent $2,144 million of its budget before any vessels had been delivered to Defence.

This is not the only cost. The Arafuras were meant to replace the Armidale-class patrol boats, removing the need for another class of patrol boats in the Navy. Due to the delays in SEA 1180 and the Armidales running out of life, the Navy has acquired a new fleet of Cape-class patrol boats anyway (although it’s not entirely clear how much of this was driven by capability requirements and how much to ensure a flow of work to Austal, the West Australian shipbuilder who wasn’t selected for the OPV project).
Meanwhile, hopes of the OPV forming the basis of a new class of mine warfare vessels have evaporated, with the capability being removed from Defence’s Integrated Investment Plan and mine warfare in general in disarray.
With its Indo-Pacific dreams also in disarray, Luerssen recently announced it was selling its subsidiary Luerssen Australia to Civmec, essentially admitting they’d had enough of dealing with the Australian Department of Defence and joining the long list of companies who were burned by their engagement with such a fickle customer. Despite its prior lack of shipbuilding experience, Civmec expressed its confidence in its ability to complete the project.

So what’s the way forward for the Arafura? The Surface Fleet Review suggested the reduced fleet of six Arafuras should have a role ‘focused on civil maritime security operations and enhanced regional engagement in the Southwest Pacific and maritime Southeast Asia.’ It also stated that ‘further investigation should be undertaken to determine how the OPVs could contribute to other mission sets. So far Defence has not revealed what those mission sets could be. But even before the curtailment of the program, we had previously suggested militarily-useful roles for the Arafura including as a mothership for autonomous vessels, employing its flight deck, rear slipway and space for shipping containers.

The good news is that sea trials of the first ship have finally begun, but without any fanfare or even a media release from a Government generally anxious to announce an intent to acquire a new photocopier sometime before the end of the decade. Naval News noted that ‘personal imagery and comments by officials, industry representatives at builder Luerssen Australia and local shipspotters on various social media platforms exclusively make up all information on this notable step for a major, if troubled defence procurement.’ But there’s no word on whether Defence is now willing to accept the ships into service or on potential missions sets. Overall, it appears that the Arafura-class is still the Navy’s unloved orphan child with no clear pathway to a fruitful adulthood.

But the taxpayer should expect better. Numerous commentators have expressed concern at how little value Australia gets from its $55.7 billion defence budget. Failed projects such as the Attack-class submarine which ultimately spent close to $4 billion and delivered no capability are (only) one reason for this. Australia simply can’t afford to blow another multi-billion shipbuilding program. We have to find a meaningful return on investment for the taxpayers who ultimately have footed the bill for this depressing tale.

And then there is the issue of lessons learned for the Government’s massive, planned shipbuilding program. Defence is currently embarking on another shipbuilding project that is meant to select a mature, in-service design, namely the general purpose frigate program. That’s the one that is meant to stop the RAN from becoming a navy without any warships. There’s no room for error as the Anzac frigates, already overmatched in our region, start to age out. But with Defence managing to botch the OPV program, we have little confidence in its ability to deliver the GPF.

As always, transparency is the best remedy, both to learn what went wrong in the OPV project and to prevent it occurring again in the GPF project. As always, Defence is doing its utmost to ensure that there is no transparency or scrutiny of its performance. Ensuring its failures remain ghosts are what it is best at.

The RAN projects team strikes again! Might have to create another directorate to deal with this.... :faaaarrk:

Graeme Rhodes · **Posted:** Fri Nov 29, 2024 10:28 am

Oh shit oh dear!

Defence News.

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