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Affordability, flexibility and reduced staff requirements are central to Babcock Australasia CEO Andrew Cridland’s pitch for the Arrowhead frigate ahead of the surface fleet review.
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The chief executive made the pitch as the government readies to release the independent analysis into the Royal Australian Navy’s surface fleet. The analysis is expected to provide detail into the optimal mix of Tier 1 and Tier 2 combatants as recommended in the 2023 Defence Strategic Review.
Babcock’s Arrowhead 140 frigate, pitched as a solution to the possible Tier 2 combatant acquisition, is a multi-mission warship able to conduct anti-air, anti-submarine and amphibious warfare taskings, mine countermeasures and land strike.
The Royal Navy is currently building 5 Arrowhead Type 31 designs, an adaptation of the Arrowhead 140, for the Royal Navy at Rosyth in Scotland.
The global shipbuilder was first awarded the Type 31 contract by the Royal Navy in 2019. The company then developed their Arrowhead shipyard and commenced construction on the ship during the COVID-pandemic. Steel was cut on the first Arrowhead Type 31 – the HMS Venturer - in 2021.
The Arrowhead 140 has also been selected as the base design for the Indonesian and Polish frigate programs.
Babcock’s readily deployable digital shipyard combined with the modular design of the Arrowhead will enable the company to rapidly begin construction for the Royal Australian Navy, Cridland explained.
“Babcock’s proven and trusted international shipbuilding experience allows us to build Arrowhead frigates in Australian shipyards, developing a truly sovereign capability.
“Backed by Babcock’s established history of designing, building and sustaining warships, the frigate build can be delivered using our Arrowyard concept, which can be deployed anywhere in the world, delivering naval build infrastructure, an industry-ready workforce and an enduring support capability.”
The capability also reduces staffing requirements, amid the Royal Australian Navy’s ongoing recruitment concerns, as highlighted in the Defence Strategic Review.
“Capable of operating with a core crew of just over 100 people, our platform allows the Royal Australian Navy to deploy more capability, with a significantly smaller workforce,” Cridland detailed.
Speaking to Defence Connect, Sir Nick Hine, Babcock’s managing director AUKUS and international, and former United Kingdom Second Sea Lord explained that the modular design of the Arrowhead underpins the competitive advantages of the ship: affordability, speedier build and reduced crewing requirements.
“At the risk of sounding a bit trite, modularity should be like Lego. You should be able to put bits of things on things that you want.
“I used to be in Baghdad, we used to have a Phalanx anti-missile system, literally bolted onto the top of a container. And in the container was all the relevant associated space, both power and the ammunition
“I know this will be heresy to naval architects and designers and procurement specialists and the rest of it, but why would I just not take one of those and put it on my ship if I have the relevant space and the relevant weight attribution and the relevant power?
“Why would I integrate it?”
During the upcoming review, the Commonwealth is expected to acquire a set of Tier 2 surface combatants to support the Tier 1 Hunter Class, under the Australia’s emerging maritime strategy of acquiring a larger number of smaller surface vessels.
