BAE Systems claws back major ground in delayed Hunter class frigate program

Builders at Adelaide’s Osborne shipyard have clawed back ground, rebuffing a push to buy Australia’s new warships from overseas suppliers “off the shelf”.

Construction of the $45bn Hunter-class frigates will begin in Adelaide 13 months earlier than expected, as shipbuilders BAE Systems claw back major ground on the delayed project.

It comes as senior Defence Department officials push back against calls to build warships and submarines overseas, dousing a controversial bid from Spanish shipbuilders Navantia to provide Australia with two extra Air Warfare Destroyers.

Last year, BAE announced the first of nine anti-submarine Hunter-class frigates would not begin construction until June 2024. The 18-month delay from the original December 2022 start date was due to Covid issues plaguing the design of the parent ship – UK’s Type 26 frigate.

But in a huge recovery, BAE managing director Craig Lockhart has revealed it is ready to cut steel on the first ship in May next year as many of the design risks have been “mitigated”.

BAE Systems Australia managing director Craig Lockhart has revealed a huge recovery in the Hunter-class frigate program.

“We held off transferring the whole ship design, because the volume of change that was showing up in the reference ship design process meant that we would just transfer an immature design into our environment,” Mr Lockhart said.

“We changed the philosophy away from whole ship transfer to zone transfer.

“And that allowed us to call forward those zones that we were ready to do when we saw the (design) was stable.”

Mr Lockhart said he was increasingly hopeful BAE could deliver the first frigate to the navy earlier than the revised date of late 2031. The company recently completed the first steel prototyping “block” – acting as a test for the start of proper construction next May.

The first steel prototype block has been constructed by shipbuilders working on the Hunter-class frigate program. Picture: James Elsby/ BAE Systems Australia

BAE says the block is “equal to the size of two houses” Picture: James Elsby/ BAE Systems Australia

Visiting the Osborne shipyard, deputy secretary for National Naval Shipbuilding, Tony Dalton, slapped down calls to acquire vessels “off the shelf” from Europe.

He cited several concerns with purchasing warships from overseas – including difficulties with integrating them in Australia’s advanced combat system. He backed Adelaide as a world leader for hi-tech shipbuilding and stressed the importance of establishing sovereign capability.

“That’s the real goal that we want to achieve – the ability to operate our ships unfettered by foreign influence,” Mr Dalton said.

“I know that there are people in the US looking at what we’re achieving (at Osborne) and taking lessons back to the US about how they might build their warships in the future.

“Australians tend to be a little bit down on each other – we shouldn’t be shy to say that we are actually leading the world with how to build complex warships.”
Navantia has attempted to shake up the defence industry by offering Australia two extra Air Warfare Destroyers, either built in Spain or Adelaide. Industry sources have largely rejected the bid as nonsense, citing workforce capability concerns.

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Originally published as BAE Systems claws back major ground in delayed Hunter class frigate program