Air Warfare Destroyer launch marks a decade of dedicated work

ADELAIDE-built warships that once hit rock bottom are now well and truly setting sail, as the third and final air warfare destroyer gets launched from Osborne today.

• READ BELOW: Analysis: Navigating the smoke a mirrors

• Spanish shipbuilder promises jobs shot for local workers
• Final Adelaide-built air warfare destroyer HMAS Sydney to set sail
• ASC abolishes 200 positions as destroyer project winds down

ADELAIDE-built warships that once hit rock bottom are now well and truly setting sail.

Today the third and final air warfare destroyer, HMAS Sydney, will be launched from Osborne.

The AWD program produced ships capable of taking out submarines, enemy aircraft, and missiles.

It was hit by major problems early on, leading to delays and a budget blowout of more than a billion dollars, but has since had a remarkable turnaround.

Program manager Commodore Craig Bourke said it was “the most complex defence project ever undertaken in Australia”.

“As the most potent warships Australia has ever possessed, all three destroyers feature an advanced anti-submarine warfare capability, state-of-the-art radar technology and an air defence system capable of engaging enemy aircraft and missiles at an extended range,” he said.

He said from the first ship to the second and again to the third there was a dramatic improvement in productivity, so now the workers at ASC are “the only current and competent people in this nation with experience doing a major surface combatant shipbuild”.

“The skilled workforce that is here, the trades, the boilermakers, the electricians, the painters, the planners, the schedulers, they are gold,” he said, adding that they would all be needed on future shipbuilding programs.

CDRE Bourke was frank about the initial issues, putting the blame squarely on management. “We weren’t doing very well. We weren’t using taxpayers’ money wisely. The program was in such bad shape that the Government initiated a reform program,” he said.

“Early in the piece there was a conspiracy of optimism to believe you can build a new ships in a new shipyard that’s never built ships before.”

He said they had learned many lessons that would now be applied to building Offshore Patrol Vessels and the Future Frigates. The workforce at shipbuilders ASC has been dwindling as work winds down on the AWDs and will reach zero – but workers will be picked up by other programs.

ASC Shipbuilding acting chief executive officer Jim Cuthill said the launch marked “a decade of hard work, commitment and collaboration”.

“With the building of each ship, the workforce has demonstrated continuous improvement ... I congratulate (them) on building this impressive warship, and the two that came before it,” he said.

The Air Warfare Destroyer Sydney at the Osborne Naval Shipyard. Picture: Supplied

Navigating the smoke & mirrors

ANALYSIS

By Tory Shepherd

MONEY is a powerful motivator – no wonder the $35 billion on the table for the Future Frigates has everyone in a bit of a tizz.

With just days before the decision is made the three firms tussling for the prize – BAE, Navantia and Fincantieri - are in a frenzy of last-minute PR.

There are lavish ads on the telly, furtive phone calls to anyone with influence. They are writing to MPs, taking out full-page newspaper advertisements, spruiking their histories and their futures. There is rumour-mongering and there are secret briefings on the pitfalls of rival bids. There are promises of jobs, promises of export opportunities, promises of Australian content.

But the bids have been in for ages and the National Security Committee is poring over the competing offers.

The members of the powerful committee – headed by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull – have been listening to Defence’s advice about which warship to pick.

There are many factors to juggle, and one of the biggest is capability; we need a fleet of frigates to keep us safe and our seas secure in increasingly dangerous times.

By the time they are operational, the oceans in our region will be infested with enemy submarines and the ships’ anti-submarine warfare capabilities will be critical. The NSC will also be thinking about the Australian industry content, the bidders’ supply chains, and the risk factors of each offering.

The idea that in the final moments before making a decision they would be swayed by a publicity campaign should be laughable, but these defence firms would not be spending their hard-earned if they didn’t think it would help.

You can’t blame them for fighting for that pile of cash, but you can bet our politicians’ resolve to do the best thing for the nation is unwavering.