MARITIME NEWS – 01 SEPTEMBER AUGUST 2016 Navantia in design study for Australian future frigate program Disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only Spanish shipbuilder Navantia and the Australian government are to conduct a risk reduction and design study on the company's offering of a future frigate. Work on the initial phase of Australia's SEA5000 Future Frigate Program will be conducted over a one-year period under a Future Frigate Participant Services contract from the Australian Department of Defense. Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri and BAE Systems have received similar contracts for evaluation of their ship designs. "Navantia's participation in this program is a significant milestone for the future of Navantia in Australia as the opportunity to be a potential designer of the future frigates will be the most important naval surface shipbuilding program worldwide," Navantia said. "This program has the potential to allow for the development of Navantia Australia's local capabilities and its Operations and Design Center, which will actively participate in this design phase." Source : Space News There are other bidders (see below) but Navantia have an important advantage as they have built two classes of vessels for the RAN which ensures a degree of commonality plus the fact they are well aware of capabilities and problems of the Australian yards. Fincantieri to participate in Competitive Evaluation Process Fincantieri has signed a contract with the Australian Government to participate in the Competitive Evaluation Process, conducted by the Department of Defence, to deliver 9 Future Frigates – to be built in Adelaide, South Australia – for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) under the SEA 5000 programme. Fincantieri is one of three shipbuilders short-listed by the Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG), part of the Department of Defence, to participate in the evaluation and selection process, which will last about one year. Similar agreements were signed also by Navantia and BAE Systems. It is offering its Italian FREMM Frigate (ASW, Anti-submarine warfare version), which is currently in service and being built for the Italian Navy (see below). Fincantieri Italian FREMM (ASW Version) for SEA 5000 There are currently 10 ships in the Class – four in ASW (Anti-submarine warfare) configuration (bow sonar plus towed variable depth sonar) and six in GP (General Purpose) configuration (rapid response RHIB ramp at stern). The ships are electric motor driven at low speed for ASW operations and Gas Turbine driven at high speed (at which time the electric motors become alternators). Hangar space is available for two MH-90 sized helicopters. Initial studies have shown that the CEA radars can be easily accommodated with little modification apart from the main mast. Source : Naval Today Flag Foxtrot for ScanEagle FFG tests Image : US Navy The Navy's (RAN) Aircraft Maintenance and Flight Trials Unit and the Navy Unmanned Aviation Systems Unit teams have conducted first-of-class flight trials to assess the operability of the ScanEagle system from the three remaining Adelaide-class FFGs. The trials, conducted on HMAS Newcastle , echo earlier serials conducted on other RAN units such as HMAS Choules . In addition to the ScanEagle, a universal Skyhook recovery system was embarked. Both are controlled from the ground control station, where new antennas and interconnections have been installed for this purpose. Navy Daily said testing was conducted over several days, which included electronic interference detection, deck operations, as well as validation of the ship operating limits. Flight operations consisted of launching ScanEagle and conducting multiple approaches to the ship at various relative winds in order to validate a safe flight envelope for the aircraft. The extreme weather and associated high winds off the east coast assisted in testing the highest of these limits. The ScanEagle system is a medium-range, endurance unmanned air vehicle, powered by a 1.9 horse power engine using either heavy fuel or petrol. It is 1.5 metres long, with a 3 metre wingspan, can fly as fast as 70 knots and has an endurance of more than 20 hours. ScanEagle can carry a wide variety of payloads including cameras, sensors, and measuring equipment to assist the controlling ship in building a recognised maritime picture. It is capable of operating by day and night, and in a variety of meteorological conditions. According to Navy Daily, the trials signified the first time that 'flag foxtrot' (used to denote the operation of fixed wing aircraft from a vessel) had flown from non-aircraft carrier vessel of the RAN since the WWII veteran HMAS Australia did so to launch her seaplanes. Source : Australian Defence Magazine Great capability during the crayfish season – but no doubt too expensive for Joe Citizen. Bearing in mind it is an airborne, it can probably be easily adaptable for vessels of opportunity. Royal Navy’s Diamond Gets New Gadgets Some 15 months of work by BAE Systems have gone into the third of the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers in Portsmouth Naval Base to get the ship ready for her third operational deployment. Since returning from a Gulf and Mediterranean deployment last year, during which she helped with the removal of chemical weapons from Syria, the ship has gone through a Capability Upgrade Period (CUP), basically beefing her up with the latest communication satellite systems, internal computers and weapons systems as well as Harpoon anti-ship missile system installed in distinctive launchers on the forecastle, just behind her Sea Viper silo. The destroyer is now undergoing an intensive period of sea trials in the Channel proving her systems and allowing the ship’s company to get to grips with the new or enhanced kit. Source : Naval Today HMS Diamond to help tackle arms trafficking Photo: Royal Navy The Royal Navy warship HMS Diamond will sail to the southern Mediterranean to join an operation aimed at countering arms trafficking. The Type 45 destroyer left Portsmouth on Wednesday evening and will replace the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship RFA Mounts Bay during a planned maintenance period. Meanwhile her sister ship HMS Daring will sail on Friday to the Gulf to support US aircraft carriers launch strikes against Daesh. Diamond will join Operation Sophia for around two months, which is focused on tackling the human smugglers and arms traffickers who endanger the lives of innocent people. Her focus will be on tackling the movement of arms. She will provide a picture-building capability to help enforce the UN Security Council Resolution prohibiting the trafficking of arms to Libya. The UK has also played a leading role in the counter-smuggling aspect of Operation Sophia and has committed to building the capacity of the Libyan coastguard, so the Libyans are better able to stop boats in their own territorial waters. Earlier this week HMS Enterprise rescued more than 700 people while serving on the operation. Source : Naval Today These help to confirm that the report showing all six alongside was partially due to scheduling for operations, although two are alongside due to manning problems! Aegis light for USN frigate program USS Freedom The US Navy has selected Lockheed Martin’s COMBATSS-21 as the combat management system for the Navy’s frigate ship program. COMBATSS-21 is the combat management system in operation on the Freedom variant Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). The five-year contract, which is worth up to US$79.5 million, covers fiscal years 2016-2021. COMBATSS-21 (COMponent-BAsed Total-Ship System—21st Century) is built from the Aegis Common Source Library (CSL), and shares a pedigree with the Aegis Baseline 9 software developed for the Aegis cruiser and destroyer fleet, as well as international ships, the Aegis Ashore system, LCS and the Coast Guard National Security Cutters. In many respects the system is ‘Aegis light’, scaled down for a smaller vessel. “Using the CSL enhances life-cycle affordability by reducing costs for integration, test and certification—and delivers an open combat system architecture in line with the Navy’s objective architecture, driving affordability and increasing interoperability across the entire fleet,” Rich Calabrese, director of Mission Systems at Lockheed Martin said. The CSL allows surface combatants to rapidly and affordably integrate new capabilities across the fleet. This means that ships using a CSL-derived combat system can incorporate new sensors, weapons and capability upgrades to keep pace with evolving threats. The benefit of the surface combatant CSL is that these updates become available for rollout across other ship classes. “We can build capability, get it into the CSL and then deploy it in a ship class when the Navy determines the need,” Calabrese said. In this way, capability developed on a forward fit program may be applied to ships already in service. Aegis and Aegis- derived systems are in service in US Navy cruisers, destroyers, Littoral Combat Ships, Coast Guard National Security Cutters and Aegis Ashore sites. The navies of Japan, Spain, Norway, the Republic of Korea, and Australia have also chosen Aegis aboard a number of their ships. Source : Australian Defence Magazine Raytheon, U.S. Navy improve anti-mine sonar Raytheon reports its AN/AQS-20A mine-hunting sonar has been enhanced for better performance, including sharper imaging of objects deep under the sea. The improvement in the system's ability to identify and classify mines is the result of a collaborative agreement with the Naval Undersea Warfare Center -- Division Newport, it said. "Together with NUWC, we've applied our collective expertise to enhance this critical undersea warfare technology -- and we've achieved outstanding results," said Paul Ferraro, vice president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems' Seapower Capability Systems. "Building on the system's proven performance, we've increased its ability to go further and see objects more clearly -- critical abilities for the Navy's mine warfare mission." The collaboration -- through a company-funded "work for private party" contract -- included at sea testing of the sonar enhancements.