The $1.4 billion (for 4 ships!) Australian FFG Upgrade Program involves:
* Replacing the command and control system with the Australian Distributed Architecture Combat System (ADACS) which will provide enhanced situational awareness and tactical functionality
* Upgrading the SPS-49 Surveillance Radar from the (V)4 standard to the SPS-49A (V)1. This version of the radar provides superior Moving Target Indication and Doppler measurement performance, providing for better, earlier, initial detection of incoming missiles.
* Modernising the Mk 92 Mod2 Fire Control System to Mod 12
* Installing an 8-Cell Mk 41 Vertical Launch System to handle ESSM
* Replacing the AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Surveillance System with the Israeli C-Pearl ESM
* Installing Link-16 to complement the existing Link-11 tactical data link
* Replacing Hull Mounted Raytheon MF Sonar SQS-56 with the largely locally developed Thales Spherion MF Sonar, also installed on the Anzac Class ships
* Installing the locally developed Thales PETREL Mine and Obstacle Avoidance Sonar, and incorporating a Torpedo Defence System.
The ships' hulls will also be strengthened and ballast moved and added to compensate for the new mass distribution, while their diesel generator prime movers will be replaced as will static frequency converters. When the upgrade is completed each ship will weigh 4,200 tonnes, 100 tonnes more than at present.
Prior to the upgrade program, notable improvements were made over the years including
* improving the performance of the tactical data system,
* using as a tool the Navy's Combat Data System Centre in Fyshwick, ACT,
* incorporation of Link 11,
* installation of the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System,
* addition of the Nulka off- board RF EW decoy,
* improved communications and, most recently,
* the addition of an Electro-Optical Tracking System (EOTS).
The decision of the Defence Capability Review to incorporate the more powerful SM-2 anti-aircraft missile follows earlier studies. It will involve modifying the GMLS Mk 13 launcher with ORDALT kits supplied by the OEM. Since the kits may take up to 18 months for delivery from first order, this work will be undertaken as a separate contract and not under the FFG Upgrade contract.
Introducing the SM-2 anti-aircraft missile to the FFG (for the first time) suggests a pretty advanced AAW capability, but its inclusion is more to do with the unsupportability of the SM-1, which was moving into obsolescence as these ships were built.
SM-2 in its various operational guises is a much more capable missile than SM-1 and with improvements to the FFG's sensors being introduced during the upgrade considerable advantage will be taken of the SM-2's capabilities although this is unlikely to extend to mid-course guidance.
The forward-mounted Mk 41 vertical launch system that is to be installed has been designed to accommodate ESSM not SM-2, hence the need to modify the Mk 13 'one-arm-bandit' rail launcher, until now used for Harpoon and SM-1.
From:
ADM: Upgrade aims for an effective, if smaller, FFG fleet.
