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| Hobart class Destroyer under-construction at ASC in Adelaide |
By Franz-Stefan Gady
Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced major investments in Australia’s shipbuilding industry.
Yesterday, the Australian government announced plans to invest more than A$89 billion (US$65 billion) in the country’s naval shipbuilding industry and to bring forward two surface warfare ship programs — the SEA 5000 Future Frigate acquisition project and the SEA 1180 Offshore Patrol Vessel program, AFP reports.
“Previous Australian governments have announced that individual ships or classes of ships will be built here in Australia,” Prime Minister Tony Abbott told local media yesterday. “What we are announcing today is basically a fleet build here in Australia, centered on [South Australia].”
The competitive evaluation program for the Future Frigate program will begin this October, with construction of the first vessel beginning in 2020 — three years earlier than expected. The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) will begin phasing out its fleet of eightAnzac-class frigates from 2024 onwards. The last Anzac-class vessel was commissioned only 11 years ago, in 2006.
Total program costs for the construction of eight new 7,000-ton multi-purpose frigates for the RAN are estimated to be around A$10-11 billion (roughly $7-8 billion). “Contenders for the program are understood to include the FREMM Frigate and BAE Systems’ Type 26 Global Combat Ship,” IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly states.
Read the full story at The Diplomat