199 [OPINIÃO] modernising a warship's capability as new threats emerge
NOTICIARIONAVAL
The importance of rapidly updating and modernising a warship's capability as new threats emerge
Posted: 11/27/2015 12:00:00 AM EST
In the age of high cost and shrinking budgets, sometimes the best choice is to modernise, not replace,” says the U.S. Navy’s Captain James Dick, who is a Program Manager at International Fleet Support and Ship Transfer.
Captain Dick was speaking to Defence IQ ahead of the Surface Warships conference in London next January to offer his insight into the future role of warships, with a particular focus on the benefits of modernising platforms over the coming years.
“When you consider the significant investment any navy makes in building, equipping and manning a particular platform, it makes sense that modernising it throughout its service life – rather than replacing it – can provide significant benefits,” continued the Captain.
“Careful management of obsolescence issues and regular maintenance to maintain the life of the hull and the mechanical equipment can provide a stable platform for a navy to evolve to counter changing threats and missions.
“Reusing the investments in training, logistics, and maintenance – augmented by the introduction of new, more modern combat systems elements – can provide many navies with an opportunity to get the best possible return on their investment.”
Challenges
What about challenges over the next five years? The Captain set out three of the key challenges in the acquisition and operation of surface warships during this period and offered insight into how these might they be tackled.
“I think the first thing - which isn't new - is keeping up with the threat. Innovation makes that a challenge, and it is always a struggle to keep a warship relevant in a new threat environment,” he said.
“That's why implementation of an open architecture approach to combat systems is so critical -- it reduces the time and the cost to update and upgrade a ship's capabilities.
“The second challenge is operational tempo. The demand for naval forces at sea isn't going down, it is going up. Having enough ships and enough steaming hours to keep those ships on station is a big challenge. That drives much of the maintenance that we have to do to keep the hull and mechanical systems in peak condition.
“It's very easy to defer maintenance for operational necessity, but eventually we pay the price -- and it's usually much cheaper if we pay it up front rather than wait until we have a catastrophic failure. We all need to have long-term maintenance and modernisation plans that optimise the service life of the platform and allow for budgeting for future maintenance needs.
“I think the third challenge is interoperability. We operate today in a very collaborative environment around the world. As more and more countries develop capable warfare systems, it is even more important that we stay aligned when it comes to interoperability.
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| Surface Warships 2016 Captain James Dick will be speaking at the Surface Warships conference, taking place 26-28 January 2016 in Bucharest, Romania. Download the agenda and full speaker panel here. |
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That doesn't mean everyone has to buy from the same manufacturer - but it's imperative that we continue the work to define common standards and protocols - whether for communication or networks - and that we use those to allow us to continue to work together.
Future platforms and requirements
In the mid-20th century aircraft carriers, which could transport fighters and bombers to any theatre
in the world supplying more firepower, range and flexibility than any battleship ever could, the demand for large battleships began to wane. In recent years the use of this long-replaced warship platform has been debated more and more as the nature of warfare continues to evolve and requirements inevitably change. Big battleships have not regained the prominence they once had, but it is not out of the question that they will in the future.
Captain Dick doesn’t believe it’s time to bring back the battleship just yet, but he does see opportunities to integrate some of their capabilities into modern platforms.
“Distributed lethality and capability is a key enabler – we need more capability on more platforms in more places,” he said. “Reverting back to the days of large (and relatively few) platforms doesn't appear to be the answer.
“Smaller, highly capable platforms with the offensive fire power, defensive capabilities and survivability seem to be the way ahead.
Should we perhaps change our perspective on what we think a ‘battleship’ or a ‘frigate’ is? Are the platforms evolving to an extent that our definition of what they are should begin to change to?
“Maybe we're at a point where we should be thinking of our frigates as "pocket" battleships – with a full range of warfare capabilities in a small package.”
The role of warships and the nature of warfare are both amenable to and influenced by requirements. So what are the key emerging requirements likely to be prioritised by acquisition officials over the next ten years? The rapid response to changing threats is certainly one of them, according to Captain Dick.
“The threat is constantly evolving, so our requirements will always change. One of the keys would appear to be the ability to rapidly update a warship's capability as new threats and new countermeasures are developed.”
Discussing gaps in current technology and where improvements need to be made, the Captain believes the use of open architecture systems is a key consideration for the future.
“The technology "gap" that I would be concerned about is how difficult (or easy) it is to update or replace a weapon system component on a platform. If the insertion of new capability can keep pace with the development of the threat, then the gap is minimised.
“That's why the move to open architecture systems, modular weapons payloads, and pre-planned infrastructure so important to getting the full return on the investments every navy makes in its platforms.”
Finally, we wanted to know what the key lessons learned have been in this field over the last decade and how these can be taken forward in the future. Captain Dick said there had been the clear emergence of net-centric combat system development, together with the implementation of the open architecture model, which he said would be “critical to addressing the capability and modernisation challenges in the future”.
“The lessons we've identified about the need for rapid upgrade with minimal cost/ship impact are the ones that we have to carry forward. They will be the keys to keeping our naval platforms relevant throughout the 21st century.”