Report slams AWD Project

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MikeJames
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Report slams AWD Project

Post by MikeJames »

And these clowns claim they can design and build 12 subs?! No bloody way!

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Australia puts AWD programme on projects of concern list

Julian Kerr, Sydney - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly

03 June 2014

The AWD programme has been put on the PoC list after an independent report said structural and systemic issues remained unaddressed. Source: ASC

(According to a report on this matter in the Financial Review, Australia is not achieving anywhere near the per tonnage cost rates they were supposed to by this stage..........instead of 50% higher than the Global standard we are 250%!!! And not, apparently getting any better.........)

Australia's AUD8.5 billion (USD7.9 billion) Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) project, the country's largest current defence programme, has been placed on the government's Projects of Concern (PoC) list and emergency measures introduced to rectify unresolved issues.

Projects are placed on the PoC list as a result of significant challenges with scheduling, cost, capability delivery or project management, and face stringent government oversight.

A joint statement released on 4 June by Defence Minister David Johnston and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said structural and systemic issues had remained unaddressed for too long.

Releasing the précis of an independent review of the AWD project headed by former US Navy Secretary Don Winter, both ministers made it clear in remarks to the media that failure to get the AWD programme rapidly back on track would jeopardise future naval shipbuilding projects in Australia.

This included the planned construction of eight large multirole vessels under Project Sea 5000 to replace the Royal Australian Navy's (RAN's) eight Anzac-class frigates.

"We are going to take action. ... We are sending a clear message to the industry that we must do better ... we are not about to tolerate another defence blowout," Johnston said.

The Winter review was commissioned in February following an Australian National Audit Office report that said the over-budget cost of the AWD project, established in 2007, was likely to be significantly higher than the AUD302 million forecast late in 2013.

The ministers said the review had identified inadequate government oversight of the programme. It also questioned the ability of the AWD Alliance grouping of government-owned shipbuilder ASC, systems integrator Raytheon Australia, and the Defence Materiel Organisation to manage the project and deal effectively with issues if and when they arose.

Serious concerns were also raised about the performance and capabilities of ASC and major subcontractors BAE Systems Australia, New South Wales shipyard Forgacs, and AWD designer Navantia.

Emergency measures include the urgent insertion of an experienced shipbuilding management team into ASC, followed by the reallocation of hull block construction between shipyards to make the programme more sustainable.

Commercial and legal advisers are to be engaged immediately by the government to assist in implementing the reform strategy.

The first of the three 7,000-tonne Hobart class AWDs will not be delivered to the RAN until March 2016, the second in September 2017, and the third in March 2019. These delivery dates represent delays of 15, 18, and 21 months, respectively, on the original schedule, which was re-baselined in September 2012.

COMMENT

The Winter review highlights the improvements in productivity necessary to regain government confidence in the domestic naval shipbuilding industry at a time when shipyards are desperately lobbying for new projects to enable them to retain their skilled workforces.

Although Johnston drew attention to the potential impact of domestic inefficiencies on the Future Frigate programme, he described the multi-billion-dollar programme to replace the RAN's Collins-class submarines as much more strategic, and declined to link this to the AWD issue "at this stage".

In a related development, IHS Jane's has learned that a contract is expected to be placed shortly for a 90 m, 2,400-ton aviation training ship for the RAN that will be built by Damen Shipyards in Vietnam. A senior Department of Defence source said the decision to have the ship constructed in Vietnam was based on schedule and cost.

And isn't that offshoring decision a monumental slap in the face to the entire Australian shipbuilding industry?
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Re: Report slams AWD Project

Post by rritchie71 »

I hope they don’t follow the RN, the Type 45’s went from 12 to 6 and were still massively over budget. To the point they cut so much out of the Type 45 project to bring down the cost, now in an environment that has hostile submarines or surface ships, they also have to be escorted.

When they went to back fit them with their original planned capabilities (it was scheduled to start this year) they discovered the cost to back fit was 3 times the original cost. So they’ve canned the back fit project and have given the money to the QE class (because that’s also way over budget). So they are left with a giant flight deck, but cannot deploy with a Merlin or chinook, only a lynx.

Robert
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