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Subject:
Australia picks Gibbs & Cox for AWD design role
AMTP10E
8/24/2005 5:56:32 AM
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JANE'S NAVY INTERNATIONAL - SEPTEMBER 01, 2005
Australia picks Gibbs & Cox for AWD design role
Ian Bostock
US naval architecture and systems engineering group Gibbs & Cox has been selected by the Australian Department of Defence as the preferred platform system designer for Project SEA 4000 - the AUD6 billion (USD4.6 billion) programme to acquire three new Air Warfare Destroyers (AWDs) for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
Announcing the decision on 16 August, Defence Minister Senator Robert Hill said that Gibbs & Cox had been selected by the government ahead of Spain's Navantia and German shipyard Blohm + Voss following evaluation of competitive bids.
"The government made the decision after accepting the recommendation of the Source Selection Board on the basis that Gibbs & Cox offered a superior bid in terms of value for money," added Hill, who said that the conduct of the evaluation and final selection decision had been reviewed by AWD Program Probity Advisers KPMG and also independently by Sir Laurence Street, a former chief justice of New South Wales. Both confirmed that the process was judged fair and equitable.
Gibbs & Cox will now join alliance partners ASC Shipbuilder Pty Ltd (who will assemble the vessels at Osborne, South Australia) and Raytheon Australia (selected earlier this year as Combat System - System Engineer) who will work together over the next phase of the project. However, Hill noted that the Australian government will continue parallel studies of an 'Australianised' version of Navantia's baseline F 100 ship design as a competitive comparator before final project approval in 2007. This measure is required under recently introduced procurement guidelines aimed to ensure that capability and cost goals are met.
Due to enter RAN service from 2013, the AWDs are intended to afford an area air-warfare capability that will be able to provide air defence for other Australian Defence Force assets, including forces ashore and friendly aircraft, against hostile aircraft and missiles over a wide area. The ships will be equipped with the US Navy's (USN's) Aegis Weapon System (incorporating the SPY-1D phased array radar) and the Standard Missile SM-2 Block III missile system.
The Gibbs & Cox design, prepared in conjunction with an industry team including Anteon Corporation; Angle Inc, Basic Commerce & Industries, ICI, Lockheed Martin Tactical Systems Romulus, and Technomics, is a scaled derivative of the US Navy's DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class Aegis destroyer, for which Gibbs & Cox is lead ship-design agent.
The AWD design is expected to displace 7,000-8,000 tonnes at full load, and is likely to adopt a combined diesel and gas turbine machinery configuration in place of the combined gas turbine and gas-turbine installation aboard the USN's DDG-51 ships. This combination will be more economical to operate as well as improving range and endurance.
In addition, the AWD requires a complement of around 250, significantly less than the 350 that the USN requires to man a DDG-51. This will be achieved by higher levels of onboard automation.
The Australian government has provided AUD455 million towards the current phase of the project, which includes further design work, workforce skilling, initial infrastructure investment and facilities construction.
The project office is due to advise the government soon on a location to establish the AWD System Centre, which will employ around 200 personnel working on the local development and support of the AWDs throughout their service lives.
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In addition, the AWD requires a complement of around 250, significantly less than the 350 that the USN requires to man a DDG-51.
As I said previously, the crew figure is still above what the Navy wants (150 crew plus 30 aircrew) but there is serious work going on to bring the number down by another 100 if we can. |
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