LCDR Antony Underwood
A glint comes to the eyes of the new Chief of Navy when force
structure is mentioned. VADM Russ Shalders is obviously very pleased
with the way the future is shaping for the Service he now commands.
“In terms of major projects, the future looks pretty bright,”
he said. “The first Armidale (class patrol boat) is commissioned,
the production line is rolling with two more than we originally
ordered, the die is cast for three big new air warfare destroyers,
the new tanker, upgrades for the FFGs and the new, big amphibious
ships to come.
“The whole catalogue of development is pretty positive if you
think about it.” At the time of interview VADM Shalders said he
expected to approve the Initial Operational Release of HMAS Armidale
within a week and that the ship would begin trials and workup
by the end of July.
“That’s been a really successful program to get where it is so
quickly,” he said, “In fact, Navy will shortly commemorate another
milestone with the naming ceremony for the next two boats the
Larrakia and the Bathurst.”
But he believes it’s time to adopt a more appropriate terminology
for what, up until now, has been loosely described as ‘the amphibious
project’. “I think we should now start calling it ‘the LHD Project’,”
he said.
“If we’re going to procure a couple of LHDs - that is ‘landing
helicopter dock’ - class ships, we should call them that.
I’ve asked the Capability Development Group and the Defence Materiel
Organisation to have a careful look at nomenclature. Admiral Shalders
said the LHDs will have a dramatic impact on the way the RAN is
structured and postured in the future.
“The new tanker, currently MV ww but soon to be HMAS Sirius, that’s
an exciting project which will be delivered in the short term.
In 12 months we’ll have a brand new tanker in the Fleet.
We don’t get them often and I think she’ll be a good acquisition.”
On the aviation front, VADM Shalders said the Super Sea Sprite
helicopters were “coming to fruition ... and we’re looking forward
to that”. “And the Collins Class are proving themselves to be
very, very capable platforms - as we all knew they would be -
but it’s taken a while.”
The new air warfare destroyers, Admiral Shalders said, will be
a ‘quantum change’ for the RAN. “In the same way that the (Charles
F.) Adams class or Perth class destroyers were a quantum leap
forward for us, I believe the air warfare destroyers will represent
that degree of change.
“The level of capability of those sort of ships with the Aegis
system (of sensors, command, control and weapons direction) is
a dramatic leap forward for us.
“I’m sure we’ll introduce the ships into service as quickly as
we can and the way we do the design, manning and operation will
be very, very exciting.
“We are able to say what they will have in the way of systems
- the SM2 long range air defence missile system, for instance.
We know we’ll need torpedoes and we know we’ll need a gun.
We know that we’ll need all of those generic combat system elements
that we currently have.
“What we will have is the latest and best versions of what’s currently
out there in various leading edge combat ships”.
