Defence Minister Richard Marles has clashed with one of his top officials over whether the government will delay a critical decision on a new fleet of warships, as the presence of a Chinese flotilla off the coast of Australia focuses attention on the navy’s vulnerabilities, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Military experts urged Marles to override any bureaucratic resistance and stick to the plan to decide this year whether German company TKMS or Japanese firm Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will win a $10 billion contract to build 11 frigates to replace the navy’s ageing fleet of Anzac-class vessels.
With Beijing signalling its intention to operate far from the Chinese mainland, the Australian navy’s fleet of warships is set to shrink to nine next year – down from 11 a year ago – with a significant chunk of those vessels unavailable for operations because of maintenance and upgrades.
Asked when a decision would be made on the general purpose frigates, Defence Department deputy secretary Jim McDowell told a Senate estimates hearing this week: “We expect a government decision in the first quarter of next year.”
McDowell, the top Defence official for naval shipbuilding and sustainment, said this was an “aggressive” timeframe given such decisions can take between seven and 10 years. The first ship is due to be delivered in 2029.
Marles rebuffed McDowell’s comments at a subsequent press conference. “We want to see a decision made this year, so let me be clear about that,” he said.
“Our number one objective here is speed into service. What came out of the surface fleet review [released last year] was really a need to get more surface combatants into service in the Royal Australian Navy as quickly as possible.”
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