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The Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Ray Griggs, has announced that the Navy will progressively change the colour of its surface fleet to meet modern war-fighting and regional environmental conditions.
While not normally apparent to the bystander, the recent International Fleet Review with 17 international ships visibly demonstrated that colour schemes do vary significantly between nations.
These are mainly due to the regional environmental conditions faced by national navies such as the percentage of cloud cover or sunlight.
The Royal Australian Navy has traditionally used the Storm Grey colour based upon a traditional northern hemisphere ‘Light Grey’ which was developed to deter detection under overcast skies. That paint scheme was adopted in the 1950’s. With predominant sunlit conditions faced in Australian waters and significant improvements in paint technologies, the Chief of Navy decided to introduce a more appropriate paint scheme.
The revised scheme and new paint technologies were reviewed through extensive consultation with the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) Maritime Group. The basis for the new scheme is around the regionally compatible Haze Grey colour, utilising new technologies in polysiloxane paints with Near Infrared Reflecting Pigments (NIRR).
Research has shown that the polysiloxane paints provide improved durability and fire resistance over older polyurethane systems. The use of reflecting pigments in the Haze Grey formulation reduces external shipboard temperatures by up to 20 degrees Celsius compared to the traditional Storm Grey. This contributes to decreased demand on shipboard environmental systems, a reduced infrared signature for the ship which decreases detection ability, a desirable outcome in combat.
The scheme will be implemented by a phased introduction in scheduled maintenance periods and will yield operational improvements as well as reduce costs and improve technical performance.