FFH 150 Anzac
Anti-Ship Missile Defence (ASMD)
In early 2010 work started in Western Australia to refit the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) ANZAC-class frigate HMAS Perth with an extensive package of combat system upgrades designed to significantly enhance its anti-ship missile defence (ASMD) capability under Project SEA 1448 Phase 2. On completion of the refit, Perth will be used to de-risk and prove the ASMD upgrade ahead of retrofit to the RAN's seven other ANZAC-class ships.
Project SEA 1448 Phase 2 embraces a series of improvements to the ANZAC frigate combat system designed to provide the frigates with enhanced platform survivability against medium and emerging high-end missile threats. These comprise the upgrade of the existing Saab Systems 9LV combat management system to 9LV Mk3E standard; the introduction of the Sagem Vampir NG infrared search and track system; and a new radar suite featuring the CEA Technologies' CEAFAR E/F-band active phased array surveillance radar - replacing the legacy Sea Giraffe target indication radar - and associated CEAMOUNT I/J-band illuminator (providing multi-channel mid-course guidance and illumination for the Raytheon RIM-162 Evolved SeaSparrow Missile).
The complete ASMD system has already undergone extensive trials at the ANZAC Class System Support Facility at HMAS Stirling. Australia's Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) reports that the upgraded combat suite successfully completed land-based system integration testing in December 2009.
Perth started its ASMD upgrade installation in January 2010 at the Australian Marine Complex (AMC) at Henderson, Western Australia. Installation activities will continue through to October 2010, with harbour and sea testing then following through to April 2011. The DMO adds: "The project will deliver an initial in-service operational capability by mid-2011 followed by an extended operational evaluation period of 12 months."
The new main mast will accommodate both the CEAFAR and CEAMOUNT phased arrays in an integrated enclosure. Canberra electronics firm CEA Technologies has been working for nearly 20 years on the solid-state Phased Array Radar system for the CEAFAR radar, and its smaller CEAMOUNT stablemate. In the Anzac frigate Anti-Ship Missile Defence Project, Sea 1448, both radars will be installed atop a new, lightweight radar mast aboard HMAS Perth.
The CEAFAR and CEAMOUNT use technology similar to the Aegis SPY-1D (V)3 radar on the Navy's new Hobart-class Air Warfare Destroyers, but are much lighter. The six-face CEAFAR radar will detect and track incoming aircraft and antiship missiles. The four-face CEAMOUNT radar is an illuminator -- its radar energy will bounce off the incoming target to guide the ship's Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile all the way to impact.
As well as being extremely accurate, this combination allows the ship to deal with multiple incoming missiles at once. How many? That's classified, but Defence says it can handle enough to cope with foreseeable threats right out to the retirement of the Anzac frigates in about 2033.
The PAR technology means CEAMOUNT's beam can skip backwards and forwards instantaneously between multiple targets to provide continuous guidance for several ESSMs going in different directions. Achieving this performance in such a small package has put CEA Technologies at the leading edge of global radar technology. The radar project is part of a $158 million program to fit HMAS Perth fitted with the CEAFAR and CEAMOUNT arrays, a lightweight mast to carry them, and an upgraded combat system. If next year's sea trials are successful the other seven Anzac frigates will get the same upgrade.
In many ways Sea 1448 has been a model project compared with previous Australian developmental programs. The ships are being modified by BAE Systems, which designed and built the ships originally, and Saab Systems, which designed and built their combat systems. These were the only naval combat systems in recent times to have worked from the day they were delivered.
In late 2008 the RAN tested a CEAFAR prototype at sea in an air warfare exercise. The trial proved the radar would work on a pitching, rolling warship, and that its separate faces could pass a radar track cleanly from one to the other under these conditions. The Navy and the Defence Materiel Organisation considered this a risk factor, so passing this test was an important step in the development program.
So great is the potential of its technology that the DMO and the US Navy formed an alliance with CEA to develop the next generation of PAR radars derived from CEAFAR. The so-called Auspar agreement was signed in December 2005 and is still current. Shortly afterwards US radar giant Northrop Grumman bought a 49 per cent stake in CEA Technologies. In a nice example of synchronicity, Northrop Grumman builds the innovative Mesa PAR sensor for the RAAF's Wedgetail early warning aircraft.
Installation of additional systems, such as the anti-ship missile defence system, have increased the frigates’ displacement from 3600 tonnes to 3900 tonnes. As a result, the frigates’ propulsion diesel engines have operated at full power for much longer than originally intended. These additions and operational changes have also increased the cost of ownership.
In November 2018, Defence advised the ANAO that: "Additional equipment fitted to the ANZAC class frigates after their introduction into service has realised the designed capability and incorporated additional contemporary capability to ensure the lethality of the ANZAC Class. Having followed a fully developed engineering change process (for example, installation of additional systems, such as the anti-ship missile defence system) the through life margins of the platform have been consumed at a faster rate than anticipated when originally placed into service in 1996. This has resulted in a margin recovery program that has increased the frigates’ displacement from 3600 tonnes to 3900 tonnes. As a result, the frigates’ propulsion diesel engines are required to provide higher power and increased fuel consumption to achieve a given speed, and that the maximum speed has been marginally reduced. These additions and operational changes have consequently increased the cost of ownership."
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