Collins Class

Needing a successor to its obsolescent Oberon class diesel-electric submarines, the Royal Australian Navy decided in the first part of the 1980s to consider the full range of foreign-designed submarines that would meet the RAN's operational requirement and also be suitable for construction in an Australian yard. The decision eventually went to a Swedish design, the Type 471 designed by Kockums, and in June 1987 the Australian Submarine Corporation contracted with Kockums for six such submarines, to be built in Adelaide, South Australia, and known in Australian service as the Collins class. The contract included an option for another two boats, but this option was not exercised.

Fabrication of the boats initial assemblies began in June 1989, and the bows and midships sections of the first submarines were produced in Sweden and shipped to Adelaide to be mated with locally built sections. The boats were laid down between February 1990 and May 1995, launched between August 1993 and November 2001, and completed between July 1996 and a time in 2003, and are named HMAS Collins, HMAS Farncomb, HMAS Waller, HMAS Dechaineux, HMAS Sheean and HMAS Rankin.

The armament and fire control/combat system, the latter proving very troublesome during development and initial service, are along American lines, while the sonar is basically of French and Australian origins. As noted above, the Boeing/Rockwell combat system has been plagued by problems, and only after the Raytheon CCS Mk 2 system has been installed will the boats be regarded as fully operational from about 2007. All but the Collins, which was retrofitted, were built with anechoic tiles on their outer surfaces, and the periscopes are British, in the form of the Pilkington (now Thales) Optronics CK43 search and CH93 attack units. The tubes are all located in the bows, and are designed to fire either the Mk 48 Mod 4 heavyweight torpedo or the UGM-84B Sub-Harpoon underwater-launched anti-ship missile, of which a combined total of 22 can be shipped. An alternative is 44 mines. The Mk 48 Mod 4 is an wire-guided dual-role weapon with active/passive homing, and can carry its 267-kg (590-lb) warhead to a range of 38 km (23.6 miles) at 55 kts or 50 km (31.1 miles) at 40 kts. The tube-launched weapons are discharged by an air turbine pump arrangement.

Great development effort has improved the boats reliability and quietness. The revision of the boats with a Stirling air-independent propulsion system in a lengthened hull is being considered, and a test rig has been bought from Sweden.

Entered service	1996
Crew	42 men
Diving depth (operational)	300 m
Dimensions and displacement
Length	77.8 m
Beam	7.8 m
Draught	7 m
Surfaced displacement	3 051 tons
Submerged displacement	3 353 tons
Propulsion and speed
Surfaced speed	10 knots
Submerged speed	20 knots
Diesel engines	3 x 6 035 hp
Electric motors	1 x 7 345 hp
Armament
Missiles and torpedoes	6 x 533-mm tubes for a total of 22 Sub-Harpoon missiles or torpedoes
Other	or up to 44 mines

Source: Military Today

Collins Class Machine in Problem

The existing Through-Life Support (TLS) agreement was signed in December 2003, with an initial duration of 15 years and an option to extend for a further 10 years.But The Australian last week reported senior engineering experts as saying that, due to a run of crippling mechanical problems, the Swedish-supplied Hedemora diesel engines in the Collins subs may have to be replaced - a major design and engineering job that could cost millions of dollars and take years to complete.The report also suggested that Defence wants to cut the average time for a Full Cycle Docking (FCD) from three to two years which would save some $60-70 million a year.ASC shortly after outlined how well they are working with DMO to get the issues sorted and that an announcement on a new boss is ‘expected shortly' after Greg Tunny's departure in May this year saw a ‘shake-up' of how business was done.

New Support Agreement to Cut Collins’ Costs

Defence is seeking to reduce the cost of operating the Navy's six Collins-class submarines by signing a new support agreement with ASC before the start of fiscal year 2010, a Department of Defence spokesperson has confirmed to Jane's.

Source: (Australian Defence) via Defense Studies

New-Type China's Submarine Patrols in Deep Sea

No.330 submarine of a submarine flotilla of the East China Sea Fleet (ECSF) of the PLA Navy frequented the vast territorial seas in recent years. It has successfully accomplished dozens of major tasks such as equipment acceptance, test and long voyage and is dubbed as a “pioneer” of the new-type submarine of the PLA Navy.

No.330 submarine is a new generation submarine independently developed and produced by China. And it has such advantages as low noise, long underwater sailing time and advanced power as well as weapon and equipment system.

The reporters experienced a maritime exercise in a sea area not long ago. New-type submarine combat group with No.330 submarine as the leader concealed, broke through the blockade of the destroyer formation and anti-submarine military strength in the air and entered the attack position by adopting new combat method. “Direction and speed of the target are ascertained, a type of torpedo in 3# pipe gets ready to release!” As soon as the order of the captain was released, the torpedo left the pipe. Several minutes later, the torpedo hit the target accurately. This exercise symbolized that a new generation submarine of the PLA Navy has generated battle effectiveness.

Source: (Chinamil) via Defense Studies

Engine Problems Cripple Collins-Class Submarines

THE navy's $6 billion Collins-class submarines face serious operational restrictions after being hit by a run of crippling mechanical problems and troubling maintenance issues.

The Collins class submarine fleet could be pulled out of action after faults were uncovered.

The Collins class submarine fleet could be pulled out of action after faults were uncovered.

Some senior engineering experts now contend that the Swedish-supplied Hedemora diesel engines may have to be replaced - a major design and engineering job that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take years to complete.

So serious are the problems that the Defence Materiel Organisation has put the Collins boats at the top of its list of "projects of concern" - the key equipment issues troubling Australia's Defence leaders.

The Australian understands that in recent times only a single Collins-class boat has been available for operational duties but it is unclear whether this involves more than extended training missions.
Senior Defence leaders are also vitally concerned about the productivity and efficiency of ASC, the Adelaide-based wholly government-owned builder and maintainer of the Collins class.

One senior Defence source characterises the level of concern in senior government ranks about the availability of the Collins submarines as "extreme".

In the recent defence white paper, Kevin Rudd announced that the government would double the size of the RAN's submarine fleet from six to 12 when it came to replacing the Collins-class boats from 2025.

"If you can't do this right, how do you do the next one," observed one senior Defence source last night.

We spend a lot of money on this core defence capability and they aren't working properly."

Defence Minister John Faulkner and Defence Materiel Minister Greg Combet have now demanded monthly updates from the navy and Defence about the operational state of the Collins-class vessels.

ASC, the Adelaide-based builder and maintainer of the Collins class, is now working through a range of mechanical issues affecting the performance of the six submarines with the state of the diesel engines a fundamental concern.

The trouble-plagued diesel engines are expected to last at least another 15 to 20 years before they are progressively replaced by the planned next-generation submarine from 2025.

While ASC believes they can still last the expected life-of-type and has called in a Swiss consultant to advise on a long-term remediation plan, other external experts believe there may be no option but to start planning for their eventual replacement.

The Hedemora diesel engines have never functioned well from the start and there are now real doubts that they are robust enough to see out the life of the Collins boats.

Other mechanical issues include the performance of the electric motors, batteries and generators but ASC sources are confident that these glitches are being satisfactorily resolved.

HMAS Collins is undergoing repairs on its diesel engines and there are temporary restrictions on two other boats while the bands on their electric motors are fixed.

But ASC remains confident that four "operational" boats will be available to the navy early in 2010 while HMAS Rankin and HMAS Sheean enter ASC's Adelaide yard to undergo a "full-cycle docking" - a major refit and overhaul.

ASC has the maintenance contract for the Collins boats worth nearly $200 million and this year is budgeted to spend $330m on maintaining and upgrading the submarines, including the combat system.

But Defence leaders are concerned about the company's ability to efficiently manage the regular full-cycle dockings (FCD) and other lengthy maintenance periods that the Collins boats require.

Defence wants to cut the average time taken for a FCD from three to two years, saving at least $60-70m a year, which would be ploughed back into supporting the Collins capability.

ASC has a $3bn long-term through-life support contract for the Collins boats with the DMO which is due to be renegotiated by next March.

Senior Defence sources say there will be three key performance indicators that they expect from the new contract with ASC including an increased availability of boats for operations and a reduced cost of ownership to the commonwealth.

"We are concerned with the amount of availability of the boats and the cost of doing the maintenance as well as some of the technical outcomes being achieved," DMO chief Stephen Gumley told The Australian.

"We are working with the company to improve in each of those areas. We hope to have a new through-life support contract for the Collins by Easter next year, which would commence in the financial year starting on July 1, 2010," Dr Gumley said.

"Like any complex asset, there is a series of technical challenges.

"We are working with ASC and external consultants to evaluate some of the challenges that wehave."

A recent external consultant's study of workforce productivity on the Collins boats at ASC's Adelaide yard suggests room for significant improvement.

According to documents obtained by The Australian, the study showed that some mechanical tradesmen working on the Collins boats were idle for much of their time on the shop floor.

One electrical tradesman was present for the entire day but his only role was to insert and remove the fuses for a pressure test. This test took 10 minutes and was held mid-afternoon.

Another electrical tradesman was clocked to have spent three hours and 12 minutes of productive work in a day. "The average efficiency observed (using generous definitions of productive work) was 30 per cent. Over 15 days of tradesperson time across multiple disciplines was observed, and nobody has suggested that theperiod of time we studied was not representative," the consultant report found.

"We believe that an efficiency of 80 per cent should be considered world-class in this environment.

This would be a 167 per cent increase in the work output of the current workforce or opportunity for a dramatic cost reduction," the report said.

Ever since they were launched, the Collins boats have been plagued by mechanical problems.

As early as June 1999, a report to the Howard government found a range of serious technical defects in the Collins boats, three of which had been delivered to the navy by that time. These included problems with the diesel engines as well as noise propagation and the performance of propellers, periscopes, masts and the combat system. By far the most expensive fix was the the combat system. The original system never worked and was eventually replaced at a cost of close to $1 billion.

Source: (Australian Defence) via Defense Studies

Australia Look to US for Future Submarine

Greg Combet, Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science, today finalised discussions with US industry on Australia’s Future Submarine project that will replace the Collins class submarines.

“The United States is a leader in the design and development of submarine technology, and I expect that Australia will look to learn from companies like General Dynamics Electric Boat and Lockheed Martin in designing and developing the Collins class replacement,” Mr Combet said.

“The Future Submarine will be Australia’s largest ever Defence acquisition and the Rudd Government is committed to ensuring that Australia obtains a world leading submarine capability. US technology is likely to be an important facilitator of this capability.

“Electric Boat designs and shares the build of the Virginia class submarines for the US Navy and has been instrumental in driving down production costs to enable the US to increase the production rate of these submarines.

“Lockheed Martin is a major supplier in the US Navy submarine combat system, the Collins Replacement Combat System supplies submarine combat systems or components to Spain and the United Kingdom.”

“I welcome the interest from US industry in supporting the Future Submarine project.

“Any US involvement in the Future Submarine would build on the relationships developed with Electric Boat and other US companies in support of the Collins class.”

Mr Combet also discussed the ongoing arrangements between ASC and Electric Boat in support of the Collins class.

Source: (Defense Aerospace) via Defense Studies