Navy ‘overlooked and under-resourced’ to combat China

Navy has been urged to bolster its fleet amid a warning the Hunter Class Frigate program should be pared back because it could not facilitate an ‘adequate number of missiles’.

A rendering of a Hunter Class Frigate.

The Royal Australian Navy has been urged to bolster its surface combatant fleet of warships to between 16 to 20 vessels, warning that the troubled Hunter Class Frigate program should be pared back to six because it could not facilitate an “adequate number of missiles”.

A wide-ranging report on the navy’s capabilities released by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute has raised the alarm that it “lacks the resources to adequately protect Australia’s vast maritime interests”, describing the navy as “overlooked and under-resourced”.

The warning comes as the federal government considers the findings of its own review into the navy’s surface combatant fleet, which Defence Minister Richard Marles received in September but is not expected to release until next year.

The ASPI report by ANU’s National Security College senior adviser Jennifer Parker said in order to deliver a “balanced” fleet, the current program to produce nine Hunter Class Frigates needed to be reconsidered in order to meet capability requirements.

“The Hunter Class is an OK ship and it’s a multipurpose ship, which means it is capable of operating in all spheres of warfare, not just anti submarine warfare,” Ms Parker said.

“However, when you look at it, we are currently acquiring nine which would make it the backbone of the navy, the predominant ship that the navy has, in turn the surface combatant.

ANU’s National Security College senior adviser Jennifer Parker. Picture: LinkedIn

“When you look at that scenario, I argued that for it to be the majority of our surface combatant fleet, it is ill equipped in modern warfare to deal with anti-air warfare and anti-surface warfare, because it lacks an appropriate number of missile silos.”

Ms Parker argued the existing fleet of 11 or 12 major surface combatants was “insufficient” considering the “new era of strategic competition and the capability and size of our potential adversaries, in particular China”.

The report also recommended that the Australian government commission a review next year to workforce issues including the “crew requirements of nuclear-powered submarines and the crewing of an expanded surface-combatant fleet”, as the sector prepares for the arrival of nuclear powered submarines.

It also recommended that the serviceability of the Arafura-class offshore patrol vessel should be enhanced or else scuttled by defence, flagging that the vessel is “vulnerable in the event of crisis or conflict due to its limited armament and low survivability”. The program was listed as a defence project of concern earlier this month due to delays.

The first Arafura-class offshore patrol vessel, NUSHIP Arafura, at Osborne Naval Shipyard in South Australia.

The recommendations come as the John Curtin Research Centre secretary Adam Slonim released a discussion paper backing the importance of the AUKUS alliance to counter the power of China in the region.

“There are several reasons behind the AUKUS decision and taken together there is one common thread: the rise of China as an assertive and increasingly aggressive nuclear regional hegemon, which potentially poses a threat to Australia’s and the Asia Pacific Region’s open access to sea and air routes, to say nothing of the Chinese Communist Party’s coercive attempt to define the terms of all international engagement and even domestic affairs, such as the right to free speech,” the paper says.