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Jane's Navy International

In for the long haul: Australia looks to bridge the submarine gap

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New maintenance practice, improved stakeholder relationships and an extensive obsolescence

mitigation programme are central to improving the operational sustainability of the Royal Australian

Navy's Collins-class submarines. Meanwhile, policymakers are becoming increasingly aware of the

likely need for a service life extension programme. Julian Kerr reports

Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Collins-class submarines HMAS Rankin (foreground), HMAS Waller

(centre), and HMAS Collins transiting in formation through Gage Roads, Cockburn Sound, Western

Australia. After availability problems in recent times, the RAN disclosed recently that it has three

Collins boats at sea. (Australian Department of Defence)

1394008

If Australia is to avoid a gap in its submarine capability, extending the service life of the Royal

Australian Navy's (RAN's) six-strong Collins-class fleet into the 2030s now appears to be more a

necessity than a choice.

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This situation has come to pass following a government decision to bypass more readily available

military off-the-shelf (MOTS) submarines as possible replacements for the conventionally powered

Collins boats. Instead, the focus for Project SEA 1000 - the acquisition activity set up to specify and

procure a Future Submarine class - is now on either an evolution of the Collins baseline or a

completely new design.

Although this decision was taken by the previous Labor administration, the move is unlikely to be

reversed by the Liberal-National Party government elected in September 2013, given general

agreement that European MOTS options lack the range, endurance, and capability sets required by

Australia's geographic position, including an area of interest for submarine operations that extends

into north Asia.

The extent of the RAN's operational interest was highlighted in October when the navy's director

general submarine capability, Commodore Peter Scott, disclosed that the three submarines

operational at that time were all deployed more than 2,000 n miles from their home port of HMAS

Stirling in Western Australia.

Continued technical problems have dogged the six Collins boats since their commissioning between

July 1996 and March 2003. These problems have impacted on credibility, as well as availability. The

last of class was accepted into service 41 months late, and work to bring the fleet up to desired

standards of reliability and performance continues today.

Meanwhile, sustainment costs, which have risen steadily, are currently running at about AUD600

million (USD565 million) per year. This includes obsolescence management, but not the acquisition

of new capability.

Since the class was designed with a theoretical platform life of 28 years, progressive retirement

should notionally take place between 2024 and 2031. However, pursuing the option of a new design

would be unlikely to produce the first of the 12 follow-on conventionally powered submarines

envisaged in the 2009 Defence White Paper until about 2030, according to sources close to Project

SEA 1000. The lead boat of an evolved design could be ready around 2028, but both dates are

somewhat optimistically predicated on government approval to proceed being received in 2015.

[Continued in full version…]

Benchmark

Coles suggested that target availability for a six-submarine fleet should be set at two boats

deployable 100% of the time, three submarines available 90% of the time, and four submarines

ready 50% of the time.

Central to achieving this benchmark - an objective that was attainable by 2016, according to Coles -

was changing the existing usage cycle of eight years in-service (including an intermediate docking)

and a three-year full-cycle docking (FCD), to one of 10 years of in-service operations (including an

intermediate docking) followed by a two-year FCD, with only one submarine at a time undergoing

this major refit.

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Not only would the new cycle increase availability, but it would also automatically add two years of

service life per boat.

A Collins-class submarine undergoing maintenance at the government-owned submarine build and

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support company ASC facility in Adelaide. (Australian Department of Defence)

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In 2002-2003, a Collins FCD was expected to involve 3,500 maintenance tasks and consume 400,000

work hours. By 2004-2005, this had grown to 4,129 tasks plus 1,251 emergent items. In 2012

government-owned submarine build and support company ASC reported that FCDs were typically

taking one million work hours, although this had been cut to 900,000 for the most recent boat, and

the target for 2016 is understood to be 800,000.

By comparison, according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a typical European

conventional submarine undergoes a 10- to 12-month FCD every eight years that entails fewer than

200,000 work hours.

Planning for the challenging new usage cycle is now proceeding in tandem with the assumption that

an extension of service will be necessary for some if not all of the fleet.

The viability of such an extension was confirmed by a Service Life Evaluation Programme (SLEP)

study carried out in 2011 by representatives from the RAN, the Defence Materiel Organisation

(DMO), and the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO). The study utilised the same

methodology used by the US Navy (USN) in evaluating the potential service life of its Ohio-class

ballistic missile submarines.

A year later, then-defence minister Stephen Smith disclosed that the SLEP study had shown there

was no single technical issue that would fundamentally prevent Collins-class submarines from

achieving their theoretical platform life or a service life extension of one operating cycle. Based on

the commissioning dates of the submarines, this would provide an indicative service life for the fleet

ranging from 2031 to 2038.

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Collins-class submarine availability 2012-2035: notional Collins life extension. (Australian Strategic

Policy Institute)

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Programme sources confirm Gould's wide experience with the United Kingdom's Queen Elizabeth-

class aircraft carrier, Daring-class Type 45 destroyer, and Astute-class nuclear-powered submarine

programmes has proved ideal in enabling him to quickly get to grips with the shortcomings revealed

by the Coles report. A further advantage is his independence from any vested interest in the

programme, aside from a desire for it to succeed.

[Continued in full version…]

Culture change

Eighteen months into his new role, Gould heads a restructured, re-energised sustainment

programme that is well on its way to meeting early availability and capability targets established in

the ISSC.

Progress includes an outbreak of peace between the four partners in the what is known as the

Submarine Enterprise - the Department of Finance, DMO, RAN, and industry - whose relationship

was characterised in the Coles report as "highly-charged, difficult, and often hostile."

"They're not throwing bricks across the wall," Gould told IHS Jane's . "They're focused on the

outcomes that are required. If there's a problem, we sit down, go through the options, and fix it."

Gould attributed the overall turnaround in effectiveness in part to the demanding but realistic

benchmarks adopted from the Coles report, in part to the discipline and incentives contained in the

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new ISSC, and in part to improvements in workforce management and the introduction of new

engineering techniques.

"Collins was competently designed and crewed," Gould observed. "The fundamental problem has

been that a properly designed, organised, and constructed maintenance regime was not put in place

from the start and reliability, obsolescence, and capability insertion was not managed."

Planning for the first two-year FCD, scheduled to begin in 2016, was now near completion and work

was under way on formulating the one-year intermediate docking that will form part of the new 10-

year usage cycle.

In the meantime, overruns on planned docking periods had been significantly reduced, and the first

maintenance activity to be undertaken completely under the ISSC had been finished early, while

unplanned repairs on HMAS Sheean , hit by a merchant ship while alongside in Western Australia,

were carried out within a maintenance period that was still completed ahead of schedule.

Improvements in the availability of spares - always an issue when dealing with ageing or unique

systems - had boosted workforce productivity and made a major contribution to reaching interim

targets. "People are going on board with a work sheet, the right instructions, the right bits and

pieces," Gould said. "It didn't always happen before and your schedule immediately starts to flag,

but we're now hitting something like 95% effectiveness."

Acquisition of spares had been turned over almost entirely to ASC, itself a cultural change, although

the DMO remained responsible for ensuring the availability of spares when needed. Sourcing of

many spares had been an ongoing problem for both ASC and DMO, dealt with in some cases by

substitutes, sometimes by purchasing kits that included the relevant parts and sometimes (as in the

case of diesel engine components) by remanufacturing.

According to Gould, the ISSC had also provided ASC with more authority, particularly in relation to

engineering judgments, as part of contract incentives linking availability and payment. "Instead of

having a sequential process where they have to make a case to undertake certain engineering

operations, they now have delegated authority up to certain levels to just get on with it," he said.

[Continued in full version…]

First cut

Linked to the drive for improved processes and schedules was the recent decision to cut into the

pressure hull of HMAS Collins to allow main machinery to be removed and worked on ashore,

increasing efficiency, according to Gould, by 400% or more.

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Lead boat HMAS Collins. In 2016 the submarine is scheduled to begin its full-cycle docking refit

period. (IHS)

0574970

Described by ASC managing director Stephen Ludlam as a key enabler towards achieving two-year

FCDs, the hull cut in September saw the first of the submarine's three diesel engines winched

through the space created just aft of the fin. All three diesels will be removed, overhauled, and used

in HMAS Farncomb , which will begin an FCD in mid-2014. Collins will receive Farncomb 's

overhauled diesels during its own FCD starting in 2016.

Prior to that, Collins will remain at ASC, facilitating test procedures and the seeding of a pool of

rotables - items that are removed from boats during maintenance periods and refurbished, while

buying time to create a larger pool of rotables to support the single FCD stream being initiated with

Collins .

There have been reliability challenges with the Swedish-made 18-cylinder Hedemora diesel engines,

but Gould said experience in rebuilding their major components had seen a significant improvement

in performance. However, now that the engines could be taken from the hull relatively easily,

replacing them with a different diesel would be "no big deal".

The Hedemoras' flywheel was removed early in the Collins' life to save weight and improve

connectivity to the main generators, an action subsequently blamed for excessive motor vibration at

certain speeds. The flywheels are now being progressively returned to the engines, together with a

newly developed governor that will ensure the diesels operate at their optimum temperature and

running speed.

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The next radical move, probably in 2014, will see a circumferential cut made at the aft end of Collins

, allowing the main electric motor to be removed for shoreside maintenance and providing greatly

improved access to the corrosion-prone bilges.

HMAS Farncomb in dock at AMC Henderson, Western Australia. For the immediate future, the

Henderson yard will host future intermediate docking refits for Collins-class boats. (Australian

Department of Defence)

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Other issues to address include agreement on the scope of future intermediate dockings (to be

carried out at ASC's facility at Henderson in Western Australia rather than at its main facility in

Adelaide), obtaining and sharing usage data more efficiently, and improving the quality of the

associated IT systems.

"There's always a trade-off to be made between how much maintenance you do with the boat out of

the water or alongside and not available for the user, and how much you decide to fix while the boat

is at sea," Gould said. "Do you lose more time by fixing it alongside or docking? Do you lose more

time by just fixing it when it breaks?

"That takes a lot of judgment and a lot of experience. I think we're getting there. We understand

how to meet schedule, but do we know that in meeting schedule we're failing to resolve some

bigger issues that might arise later?"

[Continued in full version…]

Resolving obsolescence

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Obsolescence management is currently focused via Project SEA 1439 Phase 3.1 on remediating the

well-regarded Integrated Submarine Control Management and Monitoring System (ISCMMS). This

was developed by Saab in the 1980s to control, manage, and monitor essential functions such as

manoeuvring, power, and life support.

Replacements for ageing ISCMMS components, such as special processor cards and boards, will be

engineered by ASC working with Saab, and the existing software function will be ported to the new

components. Approval for development and installation on one Collins submarine at a cost of

around AUD65 million was announced in June 2013, with installation in the other five to be

considered in 2017.

Delivering improved warfighting capability to ensure the Collins' continuing effectiveness against

potential adversaries largely centres on rolling enhancements to existing systems, although the

projected upgrade of the Collins-class sonar suite under SEA 1439 Phase 6 refers delphically to a

programme of replacement and/or improvement.

The sonar upgrade is likely to include all aspects of the system, from the outboard sonar arrays

through to the inboard display consoles and associated processing, at a cost estimated in the 2012

Defence Capability Plan (DCP) of AUD1 billion to AUD2 billion.

Approval of the sonar upgrade is officially anticipated between 2014 and 2016, with initial operating

capability (IOC) envisaged somewhere between 2017 and 2022. Whether this timetable will be

adhered to at a time of financial stringency is, however, open to question.

The DCP states that replacement systems are likely to be based on similar and proven systems

currently in service with other navies, making technology from the Thales Sonar 2076 fully

integrated search-and-attack submarine sonar system equipping the United Kingdom's Astute class

an obvious contender.

However, US security requirements currently prevent full integration of the Collins' AN/BYG-1

tactical and weapon control system and the Thales sonar arrays. This obstacle could favour a US

solution for the Phase 6 sonar requirement, most likely drawing on Lockheed Martin's ARCI (Acoustic

Rapid COTS Insertion) programme. The open-architecture ARCI design exploits commercial off-the-

shelf (COTS) processing improvements and would have the added attraction of eliminating the

requirement for any security interface between its processors and the tactical and weapon control

systems.

The in-service sonar suite is the Thales Underwater Systems TSM 2233 Scylla active/passive bow

array and passive flank, intercept, and ranging arrays, along with a number of subsystems developed

in Australia and the United States. Thales is currently under contract to address obsolescence issues

on the active and passive bow array sonars by replacing software and installing COTS processing

boards, with the first submarine to be updated in 2014.

The AN/BYG-1, now equipping five of the six Collins boats and designated the baseline system for

the entire USN nuclear submarine force, has been jointly developed by the US and Australia via an

Armaments Cooperative Project (ACP) signed in 2004 and renewed in 2009. Collins will finally receive

the AN/BYG-1 during its FCD, making the time lapse between the system's selection and its

deployment across the full Collins fleet an extraordinary 16 years.

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The joint United States-Australia development of the Mk 48 Mod 7 heavyweight CBASS (Common

Broadband Advanced Sonar System) torpedo - shown here being loaded into Collins-class submarine

HMAS Waller - exemplifies the close relationship between the two submarine services. (Australian

Department of Defence)

1394034

While retaining its deep-diving capabilities, the Mod 7 CBASS utilises advanced broadband sonar

signal processing algorithms to enhance the detection and prosecution of diesel-electric submarines

operating in shallow water and employing advanced countermeasures. Signal and data processing

algorithms have been developed by the DSTO via the spiral development process employed for

periodically enhancing the torpedo's performance to deal with emerging threats.

The DSTO has also led on improving the human-machine interface for employment of the weapon

through the AN/BYG-1. Continuing development is led by a joint US-Australian project office at the

Washington Navy Yard, with a detachment at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport,

Rhode Island.

This work is understood to centre on both nations' requirements for superior anti-surface and anti-

submarine performance in a variety of littoral waters, along with the requirement to offset the

challenge raised by increasingly sophisticated countermeasures. Later improvements are likely to

focus on covert sonar and other stealth developments such as reduced radiated noise.

Other upgrades to the Collins-class capability include the OE 538 multifunctional communications

antenna and associated Quiet Modular Mast under Project SEA 1439 Phase 5.B1, with installation

already under way and completion on the last boat scheduled for 2017-2018. The greater data-

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handling capacity this provides enhances performance of the AN/BYG-1 and reduces the risk of

submarine communications being intercepted.

Manning the periscope as the Royal Australian Navy Collins-class submarine HMAS Dechaineux

surfaces. The RAN is looking at options to digitise the electronic subsystems on a single search-and-

attack periscope. (Royal Australian Navy)

1513242

Project SEA 1439 Phase 5.B2, second pass approval for which is expected shortly, will include a high-

rate satellite communications capability, a replacement communications centre, an enhanced shore-

based communications centre, and provision of an on-board local area network. IOC is forecast for

2020-2022. This phase also involves enhancements to the thermal imaging capability of the search

periscopes and to electronic surveillance resources. This work is likely to involve extending the

Collins submarines' equipment capability beyond the in-service EDO ES-5600 electronic support

measures system, which operates in the 2-18 GHz radar band and provides automatic detection,

direction-finding, and identification of radar signals.

Implicit in current and future Collins upgrades is their relevance to Project SEA 1000, a point

reinforced by Gould. "We need to have a target architecture for what we'd like to see on the Future

Submarine and then use improvements to Collins to de-risk those things on the way," he

commented.

"That also provides some additional contingency in terms of capability improvement that can be put

into Collins if we've got to retain it for longer than we anticipated."

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Royal Australian Navy Collins-class submarines HMAS Waller and HMAS Dechaineux. (Royal

Australian Navy)

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