TSAMTO, September 8. The Spanish company Navantia has proposed to the Australian government to build three more Hobart-class destroyers (AWD) with an estimated cost of 6 billion. austr. dollars (about 4 billion euro) with the completion of deliveries in 2030.
As reported by Infodefensa.com, the proposal was made against the background of time uncertainty at the stage of creating a prototype of a promising Hunter-class frigate (based on the British Type-26 project).
At the moment, Canberra is considering a solution to fill the gap in naval technology in the face of growing tensions in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as the long duration of the Hunter program, frigates under which are expected to begin entering service no earlier than the beginning of the next decade. With this in mind, Navantia offers a ready-made solution.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez recently held a meeting in Madrid with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, at which he presented a new proposal to the Spanish company.
Local media enthusiastically picked up this decision, since the construction of ships according to the already established scheme will reduce their cost, as well as support the potential of the local defense industry until new orders are received. For comparison: the cost of designing and building nine frigates based on the British project "Type-26" is estimated at 44 billion. austr. dollars (about 30 billion euro).
The proposal of the Spanish Navantia provides for several different options, ranging from the construction of three ships in Spain and ending with their full production in Australia, which, however, will entail a certain increase in budget and timing.
Currently, the new Labor Government of Australia is implementing a review of defense policy ("Review of the State of the Defense Forces", FPR) in accordance with the commitments made before the elections on May 21. In this regard, the probability of redistribution of investments increases. The review will be ready in March 2023. Then, probably, it will become known whether Navantia's proposal will be approved.
As already reported by TSAMTO, in October 2007, the Australian government signed a contract worth about 8 billion with the ADW Alliance, which includes ASC Shipbuilding, Raytheon Australia and the Organization for the Procurement of Weapons and Logistics of the Australian Defense Ministry (DMO). Austr. dollars (6.7 billion US dollars) for the construction of three Hobart-class destroyers developed on the basis of the project of the F-100 destroyer squadron of the Spanish company Navantia.
Construction of the AWD lead destroyer, (39) Hobart, began in 2010. The ship joined the Australian Navy on September 23, 2017. The destroyer (41) Brisbane was transferred to the Australian Navy on July 27, 2018 and entered the fleet in October 2018. The laying of the keel of the third and last Hobart-class destroyer, Sydney, took place on November 19, 2015. On May 19, 2018, the ship was launched, and at the end of February 2020, it was transferred to the Australian Navy. Currently, the home port of all three Hobart-class destroyers is the Garden Island Naval Base (Sydney).
The ships are designed for the organization of air defense of naval formations located in coastal areas of the locations of troops and infrastructure, the fight against submarines and surface ships of the enemy, conducting reconnaissance and surveillance, as well as long-range escort. The new destroyers replaced the Adelaide-class frigates (Oliver Hazard Perry).
The length of the Hobart-class destroyer is 146.7 m, width – 18.6 m, total displacement – 6350 tons. It is equipped with a CODOG type GEU with two General Electric LM2500 gas turbines and two Caterpillar diesel engines and can reach a maximum speed of 28 knots, a cruising range of 5,000 nautical miles at a speed of 18 knots.
The ships are equipped with the Aegis weapon control system, AN/SPY-1D(V) and AN/SPQ-9B radars. The MH-60R PLO helicopter can be placed on board. After the ships were put into service, Australia became the sixth state whose Navy is equipped with the Aegis system, following Japan, Spain, Norway, the Republic of Korea and the United States.
As part of the Australian Navy, the destroyer is armed with the Mk.41 with 48 ZUR "Standard-2" Block.IIIA (SM-2MR Block IIIA) and SM-2MR Block. IIIB, as well as RIM-162 ESSM (Evolved SeaSparrow Missiles) Unit.1. In addition, the ship is equipped with two four-container PU PKR RGM-84 "Harpoon" Block.2, 127-mm artillery MK.45 MOD.4, 20-mm ZAK "Phalanx" Block.1B, two DUMV "Typhoon" with 25-mm automatic guns M242 company Orbital ATK, two twin-tube torpedo tubes with MU90 torpedoes.
