Australia will be a ‘fast follower’ and not on the cutting edge of developing uncrewed surface vessels for our navy. Is that the right choice? ⬇️

Australia originally committed to purchasing six large optionally crewed surface vessels in response to the surface fleet review. With the United States now cancelling this program in favour of Medium sized Uncrewed Surface Vessels (MUSVs), the Sydney Morning Herald is reporting Australia is now seeking to be a ‘fast follower’ and build MUSVs in the highly congested Henderson shipyard for delivery in the mid 2030s.

This is at odds with the approach we’ve seen with the Ghost Bat uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft and the Ghost Shark Extra Large Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. Australia has made prudent investments alongside Boeing and Anduril respectively that have seen us keep pace with primes, neo primes & start ups accordingly and our Air Force and Navy are gaining valuable experience and knowledge in manned – unmanned teaming and operating uncrewed fleets remotely.

Saronic is one of the highest profile challenger companies seeking to disrupt surface shipping through rapid prototyping and delivery of MUSVs for the US Navy. The Marauder is ~ 45 metre long aluminium vessel capable of carrying 8 shipping containers with a 5,400 nautical mile range. Whether as part of a high / low mix teaming with frigates and destroyers or operating as an autonomous pack, small and smart MUSV platforms are showing promise.

History shows that it takes years to commission ships the size of a frigate or larger, even with the nation at a war footing. Take WWII’s Australian made River class frigate HMAS Barcoo; ordered in early 1941, this ship didn’t commission until January 1944. If we need to fight tonight, we fight with the fleet we have and won’t add large ships to the fleet for several years.

Smaller vessels, delivered at scale and capable of integrating container based offensive and defensive missiles, electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems make sense in an era of precise mass. Anti ship missiles and drones are already becoming ubiquitous in the littoral and even non state actors such as the Houthis can hold our Frigates and Destroyers at risk.

Australia has a long history of building aluminium vessels. There are numerous small to medium enterprises in Australia today that build world class vessels for tourism, commerce, law enforcement and pleasure. Why not leverage this capability and capacity to build an Australian designed MUSV and scale the Navy’s reach and experience in operation a hybrid fleet?

Why not set an ambition for an Australian made and designed MUSV to be commissioned sooner than the first Japanese made general purpose frigate commissions in 2030? Do we really need to wait for others to show us the way?

Food for thought as always.

📷 via Saronic Technologies