DMO Chief Executive Officer, Dr Steve Gumley talks about how the warfighter interacts with the capability DMO delivers.

A few weeks ago I joined the crew of HMAS Stuart (Commander Peter Levy) on a voyage from Sydney Harbour to Jervis Bay . I was very impressed with the enthusiasm and professionalism of the crew, and the quiet sense of efficiency that permeated everything they did.

What do the crew think of the ship? The most enthusiastically praised bit of kit by the operators in Stuart is the TIR – the Target Indication Radar, which has the ability to track while scanning. This equipment is not only used for its primary purpose as a target indicator but is a very good navigation and littoral combat sensor. The radar’s primary strengths are its ability to detect surface and low flying objects amongst heavy clutter close in to land.

Enhancing the littoral capability is our choice of gunnery. Initially DMO looked at procuring a 76 millimetre gun but opted instead for the US built Mk 45 Mod 2 five inch weapon. Its greater range, accuracy and fire-power gives us the ability to support our soldiers on-shore. It also means we can take out land targets up to nine miles inland. This decision has proved its worth time and time again – two years ago in Iraq the HMAS Anzac (Captain P G Lockwood) provided naval gun-fire support to 40 Commando Brigade, protecting our soldiers and eliminating several dangerous obstacles at the time.

The Anzac-class, including HMAS Stuart has 70 per cent Australian industry involvement with the licenses held by Australian companies. This is good for two reasons. Firstly, it tells me that our Defence industry has the smarts and is working closely with us to anticipate our needs.

Secondly, this tells me that our people are getting it right – we’re correctly interpreting feedback from operations and ensuring this becomes a part of the project management mix.

Operational feedback was the impetus for us to provide a suite of upgrades for our Anzac-class ships heading to the Gulf. These included additional Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIBs), enhanced VHF radio equipment and additional small arms capacity. Additionally, in response to an urgent operational requirement, DMO successfully fitted a weapon system designed to combat an asymmetric threat (threats that resemble a terrorist, rather than military, attack) called the Mini Typhoon.

Major upgrades to the class have included the Harpoon surface to surface missile, currently in service in Warramunga and Arunta (delivered on time and under budget), giving the Anzac-class tremendous surface war fighting punch. We have also installed the Mine and Obstacle Avoidance Sonar (MOAS) in the same ships, to provide significant mine protection capability whilst deployed in littoral or coastal waters. The MOAS project came in on time and to budget: tremendously important when considering the importance of delivering the most ‘bang for the buck’ needed by our surface warriors.

The rest of the class will receive the upgrades in accordance with a strategic schedule between DMO and Navy to optimise capability to the nation.

HMAS Stuart’s weapon systems also include active and passive decoy systems such as Chaff and Nulka, along with the Director Optronics suite of sensors which includes a low-light TV camera, an infra-red camera and a laser range finder. The beauty of this capability is that it provides target information to the ships weapons systems without emitting radio frequency energy, leaving us with a non-detectable method of detecting and tracking targets.