Air warfare destroyers set to replace three Adelaide Hunter Class frigates axed in surface fleet review

The defence minister has confirmed plans to build Hunter class frigates in Adelaide will be cut back, but a new project will be unveiled to take their place.

Three frigates will be axed from Adelaide’s Hunter warship build because of a $20bn blowout and replaced by a next-generation air warfare destroyer project, Defence Minister Richard Marles has confirmed.

Releasing the long-awaited response to a review of the navy’s surface fleet on Tuesday morning, Mr Marles says the cost of building nine frigates at Osborne Naval Shipyard, as previously planned, has soared from $45bn to almost $65bn – or about $7.2bn per ship.

Mr Marles renewed his repeated pledge of continuous naval shipbuilding by promising the six Hunter anti-submarine frigates will be immediately followed by construction at Osborne of the replacement for Adelaide-built Hobart Class air warfare destroyers (AWDs).

It is understood the process to determine the replacement for the three AWDs will start in the late 2020s, ensuring a decision on that build is made no later than 2035.

The Hunter-class frigate design. Supplied

Defence minister Richard Marles at Robertson Barracks, Darwin. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

This timetable would mean a decision on next-gen AWDs before the third Hunter ship is launched by contractor BAE Systems Australia, because the frigates are expected to be produced every two years from 2032.

The government’s response to the 18-page review, commissioned last April, will accelerate plans to increase the navy’s 11-ship surface combatant fleet with a fleet of smaller missile-laden corvettes built in Perth, in a bid to counter China’s 370-strong fleet.

The review, conducted by US navy Vice Admiral William H. Hilarides, agrees with the defence strategic review and federal government’s assessment that “a commitment to continuous naval shipbuilding is essential for Australia’s sovereign capability”.

Mr Marles was expected to attack the former Coalition government for failing to fund key defence spending. The frigate project’s cost was $35bn when the contract was awarded in 2018 to BAE.

Despite facing criticism that the Hunter was too expensive, heavy and lacking sufficient missiles, the promised air warfare destroyer project positions BAE to build them using the same hull as the frigates.

The Advertiser last April revealed one scenario being considered was three Osborne-built frigates, followed by three air warfare destroyers, using the same hull but bristling with missiles, then three more frigates to capitalise on updated technology.

Evolved Hunter Class design for guided missile frigate. Supplied by BAE Systems Australia

Perth was expected to be a winner from the government’s response to the review, with a dramatic expansion of Austal’s Henderson yard likely to plug the surface fleet capability gap by building the corvette fleet.

It is understood Premier Peter Malinauskas and Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong, a long-time advocate for Osborne naval shipbuilding, will front a press conference at the Adelaide shipyard late on Tuesday morning.

More than 1800 BAE Systems Australia workers are involved with the Hunter, which has been designed as one of the world’s most advanced anti-submarine warships. In a bid to counter continuing criticism, BAE last November unveiled a dramatically expanded 96-missile design.

Adelaide-based Babcock Australasia has pitched an Arrowhead 140 frigate to be built in Perth or Adelaide, positioned as a smaller, or tier two, ship with a crew of little more than 100 and requiring a smaller workforce to build than the Hunter.

German shipbuilder Luerssen, which constructed two offshore patrol vessels at Osborne, has proposed to build in Perth a 2,300-tonne, 90m, steel-hulled corvette, with firepower including 16 vertical-launch missile cells.