Defence eyes $5bn corvette-style warship fleet

A high-level Defence review is looking at acquiring a new fleet of small but powerful warships to give the navy a rapid firepower boost in response to growing strategic threats.

A corvette of the K130-class provided to the German Navy. Picture: Getty Images

A high-level Defence review is looking at acquiring a new fleet of small but powerful warships to give the navy a rapid firepower boost in response to growing strategic threats.

The Australian can reveal 10 to 12 of the corvette-style ships, armed with missiles, canons, and potentially anti-submarine ­tor­pedoes, are being considered for a total price tag of about $5bn-$6bn.

The move comes amid a growing realisation in Defence that the navy’s lightly armed offshore ­patrol boats being delivered by German shipbuilder Luerssen are no longer sufficient, given the ­surging strength of the Chinese navy and its “grey zone” maritime militia.

The Albanese government’s defence strategic review, chaired by former defence minister Stephen Smith and ­former defence chief Sir Angus Houston, is looking at the corvette option to provide the navy with greater “mass” to guard the nation’s sea lanes and keep the Southwest Pacific free of maritime coercion.

Luerssen has two corvette designs – the K130-class provided to the German Navy, and the C90 purchased by Bulgaria – which are being examined by the review team.

Both vessels are about 10m longer than the 80m Arafura-class offshore patrol vessels, and come armed with surface-to-air and ­surface-to-surface missiles, and multiple medium-calibre guns.

The C90 also has anti-submarine warfare capabilities.

Converting the OPVs into ­corvette-style vessels by arming them with missiles is also an ­option, although the vessels could potentially be transferred to ­Border Force.

“The reality is, the strategic situation when the offshore patrol boats were selected in 2017 is different from the strategic situation now,” one source said.

“Defence is looking at other options to get capability faster and these (corvettes), compared to the OPVs, are longer, heavier and well-armed – they are a surface combatant, not a constabulary vessel.”

The first corvette could be completed by 2028, with additional vessels rolling off the production line every 10 months.

The vessels could be built ­entirely in Australia, most likely in Western Australia, or they could be a hybrid construction project shared between Luerssen’s shipyards in Germany and Australia.

The cost of the vessels could be as low as $500m a ship, which would make the project sub­stantially cheaper than the much larger naval ­programs to build new frigates and nuclear-powered submarines.

Luerssen has launched the first of a scheduled 12 OPVs and a second will be completed in coming months.

The total cost of the contract is sitting at about $3.6bn.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Marcus Hellyer said the smaller warships should be seriously considered.

“The (2020) Defence Strategic Update said we need greater ­lethality and we need it quickly,” he said.

“Up-gunning the OPV is the fastest and most cost-effective way to do that.

“It will deliver a real maritime capability boost years before the first Hunter-class frigate arrives.”

He said if the government wanted fill the capability gap before Australia’s nuclear submarines arrived, then “we also need to consider long-range strike ­options like the US Air Force’s B-21 bomber”.

The proposed corvettes would complement, not replace, the $45bn plan to build nine of the much larger Hunter-Class frigates, which will enter service from the early-2030s.

They are considered a more likely option than building three additional air warfare destroyers, which Spanish shipbuilder Navantia has proposed in an unsolicited plan it says would cost about $6bn.

Some industry sources dispute the forecast cost of the 7000t AWDs, and warn that building them in Australia would sap the Hunter-class frigate program of skilled workers.

Defence Minister Richard Marles has previously told The Australian that the review would also consider the purchase of extra F-35A joint strike fighters, and the potential acquisition of the in-development B21.

It’s believed it is also looking at whether to hold on to the army’s troubled MRH-90 Taipans instead of replacing them with US Black Hawks, as flagged by the Coalition, and the need to rapidly acquire armed drones and loitering munitions.

Mr Smith and Sir Angus will deliver a secret interim report to the government by November 1 ahead of a final report in March.

That will coincide with the final report of the government’s ­nuclear submarine task force.