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Post by macnz on May 14, 2017 18:17:08 GMT 12
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Post by macnz on May 14, 2017 17:57:35 GMT 12
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Post by macnz on Dec 18, 2016 23:45:14 GMT 12
Anyone hear why the Iver Huitfeldt frigates missed out on being shortlisted by the RAN for their ANZAC frigate replacement? Read the Type 26, F-100, and FREMM made the cut. Source: www.defensenews.com/articles/italy-sends-fremm-frigate-on-promotional-tour-of-australiaI am still partial to the Iver Huitfeldt design for our frigate replacement. So curious to understand what the Aussies didnt like about them. Recently came across this video that discusses the performance and design of the Iver Huitfeldt if anyone interested
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Post by macnz on Nov 17, 2016 18:57:29 GMT 12
The Next Gen European Frigate - Belharra Class Frigate from DCNS ... another replacement contender? The 4,000-tonne Belharra design is positioned between the 6,000-tonne FREMM multi-mission frigate segment and that of the 2,500- to 3,000-tonne GOWIND corvettes. This size class is suitable for navies looking for a compact frigate, capable of ensuring long-range ocean-going missions, operating alone or embedded in a naval force on the high seas, or as part of coastal surveillance missions in a dense and hostile environment. Read More : defense-update.com/20161018_belharra.html
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Post by macnz on Nov 17, 2016 16:51:13 GMT 12
Navy's newest patrol boats haven't made it to sea in yearsROSANNA PRICE Last updated 12:17, April 14 2016 MORE BOATS ON HORIZON?Brownlee wanted to acquire another offshore patrol vessel, which fared far better when tested on the seas. But it was a long process and Brownlee had no timelines: "You can't just put them on Trademe and see what you get for them." He was working with Treasury on a review that would look at New Zealand's patrol capability. In the meantime, what was it costing? Brownlee couldn't say, but said the boats were being kept in "tip-top shape" so they would fetch a good price. "People buy things everyday that they don't use," he said. "It's just unfortunate, these are a lot more expensive than the average household item. There's nothing I can say about that. I didn't make the decision to buy them." - Stuff www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/78903319/navys-newest-patrol-boats-havent-made-it-to-sea-in-years-defence-force-admits.html Well it looks like Gerry is finally playing his cards while all attention is elsewhere - shame to see these vessels go to waste. Reported yesterday in : www.janes.com/article/65529/new-zealand-to-phase-out-lake-class-inshore-patrol-vesselsThe Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) will progressively phase out its Lake-class in line with plans to acquire a third offshore patrol vessel (OPV), a document released by the country's Ministry of Defence on 16 November has confirmed.
The service currently operates a class of four 55 m Lake-class inshore patrol vessels (IPVs) that were commissioned between April and May 2009. The boats were originally intended for maritime patrols and surveillance duties along New Zealand's coastline out to 24 n miles.
The 345-tonne platform has a standard range of 3,000 n miles at 15 kt, and can accommodate a crew of 20 with spare berths for 16 personnel._______ ... question remains - does our navy have enough crews to man a third OPV? Wonder if there will be any change from selling 4 IPVs to buy this 3rd OPV? ..and if there is, will it go to the life extension of the Frigates or the purchase of UAVs for MPA?
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Post by macnz on Oct 12, 2016 19:16:48 GMT 12
NZ not alone, Australia just confirmed "after years of deliberations and political hesitancy, the Defence Department has been given the go-ahead to convert a KC-30A air-to-air refuelling aircraft (Airbus A330)into a VIP jet" ...to replace their 2 boeing 737- BBJs. source : www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/come-fly-with-me--australia-gets-its-air-force-one-20161007-grxbbf.htmlHere's a left of field idea : why doesnt NZ lease one and then we can an aircraft for 3 purposes: VIP, refuelling and troop transport? Maybe we should lease two because we could probably save enough (to lease another) on all those overseas fact-finding trips our pollies take by just using one as a bus
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Post by macnz on Jul 27, 2016 15:52:55 GMT 12
Japan has placed its second order of 4 MV-22B plus a simulator ($USD303m) to add to its existing ordered fleet of 5 MV-22Bs (USD332m) being delivered by 2018. Their target procurement is 17 Tiltrotors to mobilise an amphibious unit of two expeditionary divisions and two brigades. 5 of these would be a nice to have asset for the NZDF, but given the ticket price - no doubt in 10 years time some pollie will be preferring to buy some used Chinooks than having the foresight to invest in these. Pity. This is one platform I am surpised the ADF did not pick up. Source: www.janes.com/article/62478/japan-orders-additional-mv-22-tiltrotors
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Post by macnz on Jun 9, 2016 4:07:37 GMT 12
yep beagle Microsoft is ending production of x-box so NZDF can pick them up cheap ..pay some kids to marry them to some commercial drones and we have our drone fleet. I think we should blow the whole 20b on 2 ANZAC submarines (because thats how much AU will charge us and our pollies would be so gullible to pay). Insert our SAS onto one of those Chinese island bases and help ourselves to a couple of brand new PRC transporters and a few fighter jets. 3 services happy in half the time.
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Post by macnz on Jun 9, 2016 3:42:19 GMT 12
Thanks Dave. Here's the budget estimate: www.budget.govt.nz/budget/pdfs/estimates/v4/est16-v4-deffor.pdf Its pretty ludicrous that a White paper due in Dec 2015 is still not here in June 2016 ...but then again should we be surprised when we look at how Gerry has managed the CHCH Earthquake rebuild? In the Budget estimate; Pgs 9 (55), 11 (57), & 13 (59) outlines what each service expects "to achieve" with their appropriation which is quite funny when we are talking about a defense budget for 2016/17 of $2.2billion - that includes $501 million for the "purchase of assets" and $1.36billion OPEX on 3 services: New Zealand Army >> $543 million Royal New Zealand Air Force >> $517 million and Royal New Zealand Navy >> $308 million. $501m split 3 ways on assets doesn't purchase much of anything these days. If RNZAF got the whole amount maybe they could lease but certainly not purchase any aircraft during the year. Probably be lucky if we got 2 drones and a console for that amount. $20 billion over 15 years? Please. If we believe that and indeed that averages $1.33 billion p/year - then what happen to the other $832 million for FY2016/17? Defense news covered our spend last week: www.defensenews.com/story/defense/international/asia-pacific/2016/06/03/new-zealand-defense-budget/85286358/
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Post by macnz on Jan 25, 2016 0:40:09 GMT 12
Now I am intrigued - what exactly is the definition/criteria of 'Milspec' that we are referring to?
The KDM/RDN have a longstanding and prestigious history of building warships since the 15th Century up to today so kinda surprising that their Absalon design is suggested to be not up to military-spec. The Iver Huitfeldt class and Knud Rasmussen class are also certainly 'milspec'. If NZ opted to buy a Knud Rasmussen class OPV (the Danes are building a third one to be launched in 2017). Its a mature design, affordable and we could be assured of its operability and interdiction abilities in the Antarctic. Its payloads would also be interoperable with a Iver Huitfeldt class frigate should we ever decide to replace our ANZACs with that design. Lets not get ahead of ourselves though. Replenishment vessel & Littoral vessel first, then its 3rd OPV and Frigates. Pretty big (but necessary) procurement list to consider.
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Post by macnz on Jan 24, 2016 22:28:46 GMT 12
apteryx, I am a bit puzzled by the way you see the pages because the way the forum is set up is to display the most recently modified thread at the top of a board and all below that in chronological order getting older as you go down the page. There should not be a randomness to the layout at all. Perhaps you have some setting ticked wrongly in your personal account settings? Or maybe it is how your browser interprets it? Do you find the same issue if you open the forum in another browser? Does anyone else experience the same problem? Hi Dave In terms of forum I confirm the most recently modified threads do appear at the top of Board/sub board [Safari/Egde/Firefox/Opera/Chrome]. H/w once you go to the particular thread I've always found it opens with the original/earliest post and I've had to click to the last page and to the bottom to find the latest post. If there is a setting in my profile that reverses the chronologiclal order (at thread level so I see the most recent post first and at top) then I'd be interested to hear where that setting is? Although a bit counter intuitive, I could see it might come in handy to follow certain threads i.e. the infamous C-17 thread. O/w I'll happily continue to read as I have followed over the years. Really appreciated how you have managed the forum and community by the way cheers
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Post by macnz on Dec 3, 2015 13:09:12 GMT 12
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Post by macnz on Dec 3, 2015 12:45:11 GMT 12
It's was also mention in this book which I've just finish reading called "Nimrod's Genesis, RAF Maritime Patrol Projects and Weapons since 1945" By Chris Gibson. On page 138 under the sub heading of The OR.357 proposals. "Lockheed Marietta had proposed their SC-130B search and rescue variant for the maritime patrol requirement of the RNZAF, who had found it unsuitable for its needs." Thats interesting history. Lockheed unsuccessfully pitched the same this time round with the SC-130J for the UK's MPA. Give them points for perseverance. www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/lockheed-expresses-uk-mpa-disappointment-looks-to-n-419486/
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Post by macnz on Nov 24, 2015 12:37:59 GMT 12
It's officially released on Monday. UK is going to rapidly procure 9x P-8s for its MPA gap. RAF is also retaining Tranche 1 Typhoons to enable the formation of 2 more squadrons. RAF will have a total of 7 squadrons of 12 aircraft. Source www.defensenews.com/story/defense/2015/11/23/britains-cameron-pledge-extra-12-billion-defence/76247514/Also elsewhere cited SDSR is declaring; Sentinel R1 will have service extended to 2022 (from 2018) and Sentry AWACS service will see out to 2035 14 C-130Js will be retained until 2030 (and not retired in 2022), likely destined for Special Ops usage A400, Voyager, Rivet Joint and F-35 fleets unchanged ..OK Gerry - I can hardly wait to read NZ's '2015' Defence White Paper this summer ...oh yeah I forgot not available on Kindle until January 2016 right?
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Post by macnz on Nov 24, 2015 12:17:40 GMT 12
Update: UK released their SDSR Monday and looks like the Type 26 cost is spiralling so much so that they are reverting to back their “C1 and C2” approach to production build. That is 8 “high-end” ASW in C1 (orig. plan 10) and 5 cheaper and lighter General Purpose (GP) frigates for C2 (orig.plan 8) First service entry for ASW version Type 26 Frigate now pushed back to 2025 from 2022. Reads like Brits hoping that by the time they start producing the GP configuration in C2, they will have production economics to sell a competitive cheaper export version that allows RN to order more than 5 to properly replace remaining Type 23s. At the DSEI in September the program was cited to cost approx. GBP£11.5-12b for 13 warships. Crudely approximating the 7,000-ton ASW configured vessels might will consume two-thirds of the budget (GBP£7.2b) and so cost approx. GBP£900m plus a piece, then optimistically provisioning GBP£4.3b for the 5 lighter GP versions in C2 will probably mean GBP£860m a piece. Based on the fact that the high tech Type 45s exceeded GBP£1b a piece, then not all that improbable. At today's exchange rate, that certainly puts the Type 26 ASW design out of RNZN's reach, putting aside the delivery timeframe and even if an Australian C2 export version could be agreed with BAE and RAN in the next 3 years. Too many cooks in this kitchen to make this an affordable option for NZ Frigate replacement. Here's the latest update from Defense News on the SDSR. www.defensenews.com/story/defense/naval/ships/2015/11/23/royal-navy-reduce-frigate-buy-design-lighter-warship/76266560/
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Post by macnz on Aug 27, 2015 12:31:13 GMT 12
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Post by macnz on Aug 25, 2015 0:09:50 GMT 12
Defence White Paper (DWP) reported to be delayed until 2016. Full Article: www.defensenews.com/story/defense/policy-budget/2015/08/17/new-zealand-2015-white-paper-release-date-uncertain/31715467/Based on how the consultation process is going, obviously some consultants must be being paid handsomely for the whole year while bureaucrats manage the process in true Yes Minister fashion. Funny Quilter observation about publication release likely to be compromised due to Christmas. Who realistically plans to finish and publish a report on Dec 31? Excerpts: Defence Secretary Helene Quilter, reported in the August issue of the Royal New Zealand Air Force's magazine Air Force News that the 2015 DWP would be published "next year. [...] When New Zealand's 2010 DWP was published, the government promised further iterations every five years. The 2010 DWP was eight months late and didn’t appear until November that year. That delay was announced and explained by the Defence Ministry in early 2010." "Asked about this year's apparent delay, Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee's office told Defense News that it had always been intended that the white paper would be completed by the end of 2015 and published thereafter." Quilter echoed the minister’s statement. Our plan has always been to have a completed DWP by the end of the year with publication to follow," she told Defense News. "We are working hard to achieve publication by Dec. 31, but given it’s the Christmas and New Year period when people are on holiday and printing firms are closed, it may be that publication would follow." "Earlier in the year, Brownlee, both in print and orally, spoke of publishing the DWP this year. Whether it appears this year or next, the forthcoming DWP will address a number of expensive choices that are on the horizon: • A replacement for the Royal New Zealand Navy’s fleet tanker/replenishment ship is due to enter service by mid-2019, and the two Anzac-class frigates have already passed the midpoint of their 30-year service life. • The Air Force's five C-130H Hercules and six P-3K2 Orions are close to their end of life despite recent upgrades. The Hercules entered service in 1965 and the Orions in 1966. The Air Force's two Boeing 757s are also earmarked for retirement soon. Replacements for the B-757s and C-130s is "intended to occur" between 2018-2025."
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Post by macnz on Aug 24, 2015 13:28:52 GMT 12
RAND report commissioned by AU govt makes "..clear that it would be 'cheaper' for [AU] taxpayers to buy their naval ships from foreign producers. The incentives for the Australian government to purchase vessels from domestic shipyards would be founded on political and strategic concerns. The primary strategic benefit would be avoiding dependence on foreign countries for Australian maritime security." ..."Our examination concludes that domestic production of naval ships in Australia currently carries a price premium — estimated to be between 30 to 40 percent compared with similar ships built abroad." source: www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1093.htmlThe UK Govt are now evaluating an 'incremental production design' to the Type 26. Couple this with AU desire to naturally bespoke any design to AU needs should they domestically build, then the frigate procurement and delivery risk to NZ, along with the price per unit multiplies quickly. I think NZ can still preserve our strategic and interoperability commitments with AU without buying into another ANZAC program irrespective of the last one being successful. If we take note of RAND and we want to get more vessels for our own buck then NZ should be prepared to procure our Frigate replacements independently and elsewhere. Sure AU would prefer NZ to be ready to offer 3 or more new Frigates than just 2 legacy ANZACs to support them (in the 2020s). NZ Govt could more easily sell the procurement by showing the taxpayer how much more NZ was getting for the spend. Still think an Iver H design, built somewhere like South Korea, is probably the most economic (and least risk) proposition for NZ. The recycling of kit from our legacy vessels to outfit them hopefully could be handled regionally in either SG or AU? re: OPV replacement? If we are talking 2025, maybe that might be a plausible candidate with AU - see below - as hopefully they might have better economies of scale domestically at the tail end.
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Post by macnz on Jul 29, 2015 12:07:44 GMT 12
Nice slide presentation from Germans pitching their MEKO A400 MOTS Frigate design (a.k.a F125) to RAN for their next frigates. Interesting rationale for the displacement scale - not sure I'd agree with the builder's philosophy but its insightful (seems the navy is the only service where advancements in technology means needing bigger platforms?) www.aspi.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/26503/Kamerman-The-German-experience-slides.pdfIf RAN follow up with a ThyssenKrupp F125 or BAE's Type 26 design then we will be seeing 8000 tonne Frigates at least costing AUD$800m a piece. Don't think that would be very compelling for NZ to piggyback an order off - ANZAC or not. With our defense budget and needs, and procurement successes, hopefully NZ will be looking for a (smaller and more affordable) future frigate design that can get us 3-4 vessels for the price of 2 of these (F125/Type26)
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Post by macnz on Jul 12, 2015 15:05:46 GMT 12
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