Australia eyes British ships

[juddy]

Australia may purchase a Bay class ship from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary following talks between Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox and his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith.

The news comes during Fox and Foreign Secretary William Hague's official visit to the country.

Australia's Minister for Defence Stephen Smith said: "Dr Fox and I have agreed that our officials will now pursue that matter to see whether it is appropriate for Australia to add to its amphibious landing vessel and loading dock fleet by either leasing or acquiring such a Bay class vessel from the UK."

Smith had earlier said that purchasing Royal Navy vessels was "a prospect that may be of some interest to Australia".

The UK currently has four Bay class landing ship docks, with RFA Largs Bay due to be withdrawn from service in April this year following a decision made in last year's Strategic Defence and Security Review.




On a side note...

Defence cuts two naval programs

The Minister for Defence and the Minister for Defence Materiel have announced the decommissioning of the HMAS Manoora and the LCM 2000 boat series

As part of today's announcement of a projects of concern update, the Government announced that the HMAS Manoora will be decommissioned. The ship first served in the US Navy from 1970 as the USS Fairfax County before being acquired by the RAN in 1994 and refitted. The Manoora, one of Australia's two amphibious landing ships, had been out of service since late last year due to several problems with the ship's engines and structure.


Today Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare announced that the ship, which had been scheduled for $17 million worth of work (which had not been put to tender), would be decommissioned, citing significant hull corrosion and the need to replace both gear boxes. As the ship was scheduled for decommissioning at the end of 2012, it was decided not to proceed with any repair work.


So what does this mean for SA industry? Not much- a lot of the work was semi-slated to be performed in Newcastle. The interesting part for SA is that replacement. In 2014 the first Canberra-class ship will go into operation, but until then Australia's amphibious capability will be constrained. There are currently rumours that Australia will either buy or lease a (currently mothballed) Bay-class Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) from the UK, either in our own right or possibly to be operated jointly with New Zealand. If the Bay class is acquired, there may be opportunities for some Australian outfitting.


Also on the chopping block was the LCM-2000 (Landing Craft, Mechanised). These vessels were purchased in 2001 from ADI (now Thales) to act as landing ships attached to the Manoora and Kanimbla, but there was one major issue- they were too big and heavy to fit in the LHD! Since first entering service in 2005, the LCM 2000s have had limited runs as training vessels out of Townsville. The axing of these vessels is no surprise.


A new series of LCMs (the LCM-1E) built by Navantia will enter service in 2014.

[ugu80]

Why doesn't the government just buy their stuff from China, like the rest of us.

[PhilipA]

We could even get stealth fighters I bet cheaper than the Yank ones.
BUT the owner manuals would be a challenge.

Regards Philip A

[one_iota]

umm..you drive a Land Rover?

[Lotz-A-Landies]

I thought we wanted inter-operability with NATO?

Yes we have close commercial and diplomatic ties with China but having their ships too may mean that when they try to invade us, all they will have to do is send out the kill switch command and all our Chinese naval & military equipment will be dead in the water.

Imagine having to ask them for spare parts if we are at war!

[PhilipA]

Well the Swedes wouldn't supply Carl Gustav ammunition during Vietnam.

So what is different . One never knows who your friends and enemies will be in the future.

In any case all the Chinese stuff will be a direct copy of the American stuff so we could use American parts.
Regards Philip A

[juddy]

And the American ships we have now, are over 40 years old, and you cant get parts for those either....

[PAT303]

Just more wasted $$$ to go with the already wasted Billions.It's OK though,it's only taxpayers money not the pollies. Pat

[Sully]

Pfffft... What the heck is that thing?

We need a bit of this gear I reckon.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

I know this will sound silly,,
but why not just build our own,,
I'm told we used to do it a lot,,
and our navy's not that big, how many could we need??
and as for cost,, who cares?
its our money spent in our country,,
Id happily pay ten times what a chinese ships worth if the money and jobs stay here--