NULKA a Compelling Story
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NULKA A Compelling Story INGENUITY : PARTNERSHIP : PERSEVERANCE David Gambling, Mal Crozier and Don Northam © Commonwealth of Australia 2013 First published in 2013 by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation 24 Fairbairn Ave, Fairbairn Business Park, Canberra ACT 2600 www.dsto.defence.gov.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry (pbk) Gambling, D. J., author. NULKA : a compelling story / David Gambling, Mal Crozier, Don Northam. ISBN: 9780987544704 (paperback) NULKA Antiship missile defence – Australia Maritime warfare – Australia Deterrence (Strategy) National security - Australia Australia - Defenses Australia - Military policy Other Authors/Contributors: Crozier, Mal, author Northam, Don, author Defence Science and Technology Organisation (Australia), issuing body. 358.1740994 Design and art by Nisha Changela. © Commonwealth of Australia 2013. This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Department of Defence. Requests and inquiries should be addressed to Director, Defence Science Communications, DSTO, 24 Fairbairn Ave, Fairbairn Business Park, Canberra ACT 2600. FOREWORD cience and technology have many roles in supporting defence capability but none is more important than researching novel S ideas and initiating projects that meet critical national security requirements. The Nulka active missile decoy program is a project that typifies this role. Nulka did not have an easy birth. From the initial concept developed by Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Organisation in the early 1970s, Nulka faced many hurdles — technical, managerial and political — before it became the state-of-the-art ship protection system that we see deployed on more than 150 Australian, United States and Canadian warships today. In 1986 Australia and the United States signed an agreement to undertake full-scale collaborative development of the Nulka concept. Later BAE Systems (then AWA Defence Industries) was contracted for the engineering development of the Nulka system and rocket vehicle, with the United States companies Lockheed Martin Sippican Inc and ADI-Thales engaged to develop the electronic payload and rocket motor respectively. In 1996 Australia and the United States commenced joint production of the Nulka decoys for their respective navies. The early involvement of industry, coupled with the partnership between Australia and the United States, were the crucial ingredients for this successful project to finally lead to full production of Nulka by 1999. In 2007 Nulka reached a landmark, providing protection for 100 ships — 83 in the United States Navy, 14 in the Royal Australian Navy and three in the Canadian Navy. It is scheduled to be installed in over 160 ships. Nulka has been Australia’s largest regular defence export for many years and in 2010, the delivery of the 1000th Nulka round was celebrated. The total investment in Nulka by the three navies to date is around $1 billion. iii The evolution of Nulka into a successful defence capability is a credit to the skills, dedication and energy of the large numbers of scientists and engineers in Defence and industry both in Australia and the United States. One cannot underestimate the contributions made by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, the Defence Materiel Organisation, the United States Naval Research Laboratory including the Naval Weapon Centres at Dahlgren and Crane, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin Sippican Inc, Aerojet and Thales (then ADI) along with many smaller but important organisations. The Nulka story is an exemplary record of how science and engineering, industry and Defence, the United States and Australia, can all come together to create a piece of history. Many of the players involved in the original development of Nulka have moved on or retired. Nonetheless they deserve to be congratulated for their unique innovation that protects the lives of our sailors at sea. Importantly, their story needs to be told to inspire our new generation of professionals. We thank the authors for bringing that story to life and commend this book to you. Dr Alex Zelinsky Warren King Chief Defence Scientist, Australia CEO Defence Materiel Organisation, Australia Alan A R Shaffer David Allott Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense CEO BAE Systems, Australia (Research and Engineering), USA iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword iii Preface vi Acknowledgements x 1. The emerging threat to ships and initial analysis 1 2. Early technology efforts in the United States and Australia, 1975-1981 13 3. Overcoming obstacles, 1981-1984 45 4. The Winnin Concept Development phase, 1983-1986 61 5. Achieving collaboration, 1984-1986 91 6. Full scale engineering development, 1988-1993 99 7. More obstacles to overcome, 1992-1995 133 8. Towards full scale production, 1993-2001 139 9. A summary of the journey 167 Notes 177 Timeline chart for the Winnin Nulka program 178 Abbreviations and acronyms 182 Photograph credits 187 Index 188 v PREFACE he story of Nulka is, in many ways, several inter-woven stories. It is first and foremost the story of a superb, sustained feat of engineering T to introduce into service an electronic decoy system capable of defeating advanced anti-ship missiles. Nulka was never a large project by military standards, but was highly complex, and involved the development and proving of several fundamentally new technologies in order to meet requirements for decoying. There was, for example, the development of the thrust vectored rocket, ‘Hoveroc’, which solved the problem of how to develop a small carrier vehicle which could fly relatively slowly while supporting a sizeable payload mass. Also, there was an amazing advance in payload antenna design that greatly simplified the mechanics of decoying, and thereby increased the system’s operational effectiveness. These, and a host of other technological achievements, were made possible by the fertile, collaborative environment that existed in the Defence Science and Technology Organisation and defence industry in those times. Scientists and engineers were able and willing to work across organisational lines to solve the many multi-disciplinary problems that always exist in complex system developments. The Nulka Decoy Project originated in Australia in the early 1970s, but it needs to be acknowledged that its inception followed closely the earlier pioneering work on off-board decoys carried out by the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) during the 1960s and early 1970s. For example, scientists and engineers in NRL’s Tactical Electronic Warfare Division had undertaken numerous studies on the use of off-board decoys for warship protection, had investigated a wide range of decoy concepts, and had fostered exploratory development of high performance, low cost electronic components and devices which could sustain the accelerations inherent vi in rapid response decoy launches. In addition, the United States Navy had generously provided to Australia, through staff exchanges and international agreements, highly useful background knowledge and information on its off-board decoy programs as well as information on anti-ship missiles and the threat they posed to navies. Knowledge of the state of development of decoy electronics technologies was particularly important to the Australian endeavour. Without this, it is unlikely that the Australian project could have proceeded during those early years. Noteworthy also have been the sustained and highly competent efforts by Australian and United States industry, which for more than two decades carried out the lion’s share of the engineering development and manufacturing tasks of the Nulka program. This is an impressive achievement, given that Nulka was the first joint program of its kind. In the process, industry’s belief in and commitment to Nulka on a great many occasions were instrumental to the project’s continuation. Tribute is also due to the Australian Navy’s electronic warfare community which strongly supported Nulka throughout its development, as well as staff of the numerous project offices that were formed in DSTO and the Australian Department of Defence to coordinate and manage the Nulka program, firstly as an Australian development, then collaboratively with the United States Navy. Finally, there needs to be acknowledgement of the pivotal contributions of the joint Australia-United States Program Offices to Nulka’s full scale development and production, that were critical to the project’s success. Throughout its history, Nulka engaged many people, from within research and development communities, naval and other defence organisations, and industry. The story of Nulka is therefore one of people and their contributions. Because of the project’s timescale — that extended over decades — they can be seen as a passing parade of players who came into the project, often to make an important, if not vital contribution, and then move on. As well, there vii has been a core of personnel that stayed with and supported the project for long periods, committed to seeing it through. As this history reveals, the inspiration, ingenuity and persistence of participants in all phases of Nulka have been the ingredients of its success. Nulka is also a story of persuasion, or more accurately, attempted persuasion. For the decoy to be affordable, it was clear from the outset that Australian scientists would have to find a collaborative partner to reduce