Arafura-class offshore patrol vessel
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The ''Arafura'' class is a class of offshore patrol vessels being built for the
Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
(RAN). Initially proposed in the 2009 Defence White Paper and marked as procurement project SEA 1180, it was originally planned that 20 Offshore Combatant Vessels (OCV) would replace 26 vessels across four separate ship classes: the s, the s, the s, and the es. Although having a common design (which could be up to 2,000 tonnes in
displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...
), the ships would use a modular mission payload system to fulfill specific roles; primarily
border patrol A border guard of a country is a national security agency that performs border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Germany, Italy or Ukraine) and rescue service duties. Name and uniform In dif ...
, mine warfare, and
hydrographic survey Hydrographic survey is the science of measurement and description of features which affect maritime navigation, marine construction, dredging, offshore oil exploration/offshore oil drilling and related activities. Strong emphasis is placed ...
. The 2013 Defence White Paper committed to the OCV project as a long-term goal, but opted in the short term for an accelerated procurement of an existing design to replace the ''Armidale''s, and life-extension refits for the other types. This resulted in the Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) project and the amount of vessels reduced to 12. However, this was further increased to 14 when 2 further Mine Counter Measures variants were proposed under ''SEA 1905''. Then-Prime Minister
Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Turnbull grad ...
announced on 18 April 2016 that ship designers Damen, Fassmer and
Lürssen Lürssen (or Lürssen Werft) is a German shipyard with headquarters in Bremen-Vegesack and shipbuilding facilities in Lemwerder, Berne and Bremen-Fähr-Lobbendorf. Lürssen designs and constructs yachts, naval ships and special vessels. Tradin ...
had been shortlisted for the project. On 24 November 2017, the government announced that Lürssen had been selected.


Offshore combatant proposal


Planning and design

First made public in '' Defending Australia in the Asia Pacific Century: Force 2030'', the 2009 Department of Defence
white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white paper ...
, the planned vessels stem from Government instructions for the RAN to rationalise patrol, mine warfare, and
hydrographic survey Hydrographic survey is the science of measurement and description of features which affect maritime navigation, marine construction, dredging, offshore oil exploration/offshore oil drilling and related activities. Strong emphasis is placed ...
assets into a single class of warship.Department of Defence, ''Defending Australia in the Asia Pacific Century'', pp. 72–3 It was originally planned 20 OCVs would replace 26 vessels across four separate ship classes: the s, the s, the s, and the es Instead of being capable of performing all roles simultaneously, the ships will have a modular mission payload system like the Standard Flex system used by the
Danish Navy The Royal Danish Navy ( da, Søværnet) is the sea-based branch of the Danish Defence force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Danish territorial waters (incl. Faroe Islands and Greenland). Oth ...
, or the system used by the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
's
littoral combat ship The littoral combat ship (LCS) is either of two classes of relatively small surface vessels designed for operations near shore by the United States Navy. It was "envisioned to be a networked, agile, stealthy surface combatant capable of defeat ...
s: mission-specific equipment will be fitted to containerised modules, which can be exchanged for different modules when the ship needs to change roles.Boettger, ''The Offshore Combatant Vessel'', p. 31 The use of containerised modules means that equipment can be upgraded without taking the ships out of service for refit, and if necessary can be fitted to requisitioned civilian vessels.''Australian Offshore Combatant Vessels'', p. 1 The cost in developing and implementing the modular system is predicted to be offset by the savings in the areas of maintenance (having to purchase and maintain stocks to repair four different designs), personnel (having to retrain sailors when they transfer to a new ship), and administration. It was anticipated that the new ships could have displaced anywhere up to 2,000 tonnes, although defence magazine editor Kym Bergmann predicts that this 'worst case' would require 50,000 tons of steel or aluminium to be fabricated (compared to 36,000 tons for the ''Attack-class'' submarine program), and unless multiple shipbuilders are involved, the 12- to 18-month construction time per vessel will see the last ship enter service during the late 2020s.Bergmann, ''Buzz around all-in-one combatant vessels'' Instead of building all 20 vessels to the same design, the idea of hull variants optimised for different roles is also being explored: the module system will allow a ship designed for one role to be rapidly reconfigured to serve in another role, with a small but acceptable loss in capability compared to a 'native' OPV. The OPVs could be designed to carry a helicopter or an
unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...
to improve each ship's surveillance range, but this avenue is dependent on further study and cost-benefit analysis.''Australian Offshore Combatant Vessels'', p. 2 The OPV was originally planned to replace 26 vessels across four warship classes: the s, the s, the s, and the es.Thornton, ''The Rationale for the RAN Offshore Combatant Vessel, p. 6'' The new ships were to be used for offshore and
littoral The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal areas ...
patrol, border protection, anti-terrorism and anti-piracy operations, mine warfare, and hydrographic survey. It was plausible that the OPVs will operate in support of the ships;
amphibious operations Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducted ...
would benefit from the survey and mine warfare capabilities of the ships.


International co-operation

The
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
has begun plans for a similar vessel under the Future Surface Combatant program, designated the Future Mine Countermeasures/Hydrographic/Patrol Vessel (FMHPV).Scott, ''UK, Australia begin talks on future ship projects'' At the start of 2010, it was announced that the governments of Australia and the United Kingdom were exploring the potential for idea-sharing and co-operation on the design of the OPV and FMHPV, as well as planned replacements for the , Type 22, and Type 23 frigates. Although the nations will share their analyses, a common design or shared construction program is unlikely, as the two nations have different needs and replacement schedules. The RAN is also observing the development of the United States Navy Littoral Combat Ships, to take advantage of lessons learned during the program.


Proposed designs

While designing the trimarans for the Littoral Combat Ship program, Australian-owned shipbuilder
Austal Austal is an Australian-based global ship building company and defence prime contractor that specialises in the design, construction and support of defence and commercial vessels. Austal's product range includes naval vessels, high-speed passeng ...
also prepared a scaled-down version that could serve as the basis for the Australian OPV. The Austal Multi Role Vessel (MRV 80) would have an
overall length The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads i ...
of 80 metres, a top speed of 26 knots, carry an
NH-90 The NHIndustries NH90 is a medium-sized, twin-engine, multi-role military helicopter. It was developed in response to NATO requirements for a battlefield helicopter which would also be capable of being operated in naval environments. The NH90 ...
or similar helicopter, and have 500 square metres for mission equipment or cargo. In 2012, American shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries proposed a variant of the Legend-class
National Security Cutter The Legend-class cutter, also known as the National Security Cutter (NSC) and Maritime Security Cutter, Large, is the largest active patrol cutter class of the United States Coast Guard. Entering into service in 2008, the Legend-class is the la ...
, a ship built for the United States Coast Guard.


Offshore Patrol Vessel program

Although the 2013 White Paper committed to the OCV as a long-term plan, it announced that an interim patrol boat class based on an existing design would be acquired as a short-term replacement for the ''Armidale''s, while the ''Paluma''s and ''Huon''s would undergo life-extension upgrades. The 20 vessels originally planned to be built was reduced was later reduced to 12 following the change in their planned role. The project received the procurement designation SEA 1180. Prime Minister
Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Turnbull grad ...
announced on 18 April 2016 that ship designers Damen, Fassmer and
Lürssen Lürssen (or Lürssen Werft) is a German shipyard with headquarters in Bremen-Vegesack and shipbuilding facilities in Lemwerder, Berne and Bremen-Fähr-Lobbendorf. Lürssen designs and constructs yachts, naval ships and special vessels. Tradin ...
had been shortlisted for the project. On 24 November 2017, the government announced that Lürssen had been selected. In October 2017, the Australian government announced that the vessels would use an Australian-designed SAAB tactical combat management system. Under ''SEA 1905'' a further two ships are to be built by
Civmec Civmec Limited is a dual-listed Singaporean-Australian public company involved in the construction, engineering and shipbuilding industries. Headquartered in Perth, Western Australia, it specialises in fabrication and construction for the oil and ...
for the mine countermeasures role. A third vessel may be procured under ''SEA 2400'' to fulfill the survey although this is unlikely. This was expanded in the 2020 Defence Strategic Update and 2020 Force Structure Plan released on 30 June 2020 for up to 8 vessels optimised for mine countermeasures and hydrographic survey roles potentially based on the ''Arafura'' design possibly bringing the total number of vessels back up to the original 20.


Design

The ''Arafura''-class is based on the Lürssen-designed ''Darussalam''-class, operated by the
Royal Brunei Navy The Royal Brunei Navy ( ms, Tentera Laut Diraja Brunei, abbreviated TLDB) is the naval defence force of Brunei Darussalam. It is a small but relatively well-equipped force whose main responsibility is to conduct search and rescue missions and ...
. Each vessel has a gross
displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...
of 1,640
tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000  kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...
s, and measures 80 metres long, with a beam of 13 metres and a draft of 4 metres. Propulsion power is from two MTU 16V diesel engines rated at 4440kw each, which drive
variable pitch propeller In marine propulsion, a variable-pitch propeller is a type of propeller with blades that can be rotated around their long axis to change the blade pitch. Reversible propellers—those where the pitch can be set to negative values—can also ...
s and give a top speed of 22 knots, and shipboard electrical power is generated by
MAN A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...
diesel engines. The ship's range is about , with an endurance of 21 days. The standard crew complement is 40 sailors, though up to 20 more can be berthed if required. The ships will be deployed with empty space available to install container-mounted systems such as aircraft support and sensors; if fully utilized, the gross displacement could increase to 1,800 tonnes. Shipboard armament was originally intended to be a single 40 mm gun and two 12.7 mm guns. The 40 mm gun was cancelled in 2021 due to a combination of technical problems and a re-assessment of the threats the ships would face. The ships will instead be armed with a
Typhoon Weapon Station The Typhoon is a type of remote weapon station manufactured by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems of Israel, and it shares similar design principles and common technologies with Samson Remote Controlled Weapon Station (Samson RCWS), a land-based ...
on an interim basis until a replacement weapon is identified and then acquired. Each vessel carries two 8.5 metre
rigid inflatable boat A rigid inflatable boat (RIB), also rigid-hull inflatable boat or rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), is a lightweight but high-performance and high-capacity boat constructed with a rigid hull bottom joined to side-forming air tubes that are ...
s and a single 10 metre boat, which are intended as the primary means of deploying offensive force in the ships' border patrol role. A single
unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...
is carried and deployed from an open utility deck. Two separate electro-optic targeting systems and three radars are installed and managed by the Saab
9LV 9LV is a Naval Combat Management System (CMS) from the Swedish company Saab Group, Saab. The 9LV was established when Philips Teleindustri AB (1975 renamed Philips Elektronikindustrier AB), a subsidiary of Philips of the Netherlands, was selected a ...
system. In order to allow the ships to operate in conjunction with allied international forces, each ship is equipped with a unique electronic identifier transponder that allows for communication via the
Link 16 Link 16 is a military tactical data link network used by NATO and nations allowed by the MIDS International Program Office (IPO). Its specification is part of the family of Tactical Data Links. With Link 16, military aircraft as well as ship ...
network.


Construction

The class of ships will be based on Lürssen's OPV80, similar to the of the
Royal Brunei Navy The Royal Brunei Navy ( ms, Tentera Laut Diraja Brunei, abbreviated TLDB) is the naval defence force of Brunei Darussalam. It is a small but relatively well-equipped force whose main responsibility is to conduct search and rescue missions and ...
. The first two vessels will be built by
ASC Shipbuilding ASC Shipbuilding, formerly the shipbuilding division of ASC Pty Ltd, is a subsidiary of BAE Systems Australia and will remain a subsidiary for the duration of the contract to build the ''Hunter'' class frigates. It was structurally separate ...
in Adelaide, South Australia before production is transferred to the shipyard of Forgacs Marine & Defence, a subsidiary of Civmec, in
Henderson, Western Australia Henderson is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, located within the City of Cockburn. History The suburb of Henderson comprises land resumed by the Commonwealth Government in 1915 for defence purposes. A large naval base was planned by Admira ...
. Construction of the first ship began on 15 November 2018. On that day, it was also announced that the vessel would be named HMAS ''Arafura'', and the class the ''Arafura''-class patrol vessels. On 9 April 2020 the second ship in the class, HMAS ''Eyre'', was laid down at ASC's shipyard. The names of the following four ships were also announced at this time: HMA Ships ''Pilbara'', ''Gippsland'', ''Illawara'' and ''Carpentaria.'' The first three ships amongst the then new names, HMAS ''Pilbara'', HMAS ''Gippsland'' and HMAS ''Illawarra'' were laid down at the shipyard of Civmec in Henderson on 11 September 2020, 30 July 2021 and 27 September 2022, respectively.


Ships

Dates in ''Italics'' indicate estimates


Citations


References

* * * * * * * {{cite journal, date=April 2012 , title=HII Targets RAN SEA1180 Project , journal=The Navy , publisher=Navy League of Australia , volume=74 , issue=2 , page=18 , issn=1322-6231


External links


Arafura Class OPV on Royal Australian Navy website
Patrol vessels of the Royal Australian Navy Proposed ships