fylonoe sabina catriona

[Salomon Thoj]

The Collins Class type 471 diesel-electric submarines were designed by Swedish shipbuilders Kockums for the Royal Australian Navy. Construction was carried out by ASC, formerly the Australian Submarine Corporation, in Adelaide, South Australia, although the bow and escape tower sections of the first submarine were built in Sweden.

The upgrade programme was designed to rectify shortcomings identified in a government report and included: upgrades to weapon systems; improvements to the sonar system, tactical data handling system and weapons control system; upgrade and improvement of the combat system and operational fixes to reduce acoustic signature.

The RAN decided to acquire a replacement combat system (RCS) which is a variant (block 1C mod 6) of the Raytheon CCS mk2 in service with the US Navy. The RAN signed an agreement with the US Navy in November 2004 for the development of the system, called the AN/BYG-1 combat control system, which is also being fitted to USN Virginia Class submarines.

The mk48 mod 7 ADCAP (advanced capability) torpedo, which entered service in 2008, was also being under an armaments cooperation project with the USN. Thales Underwater Systems is providing new sonar suite displays and processors for the Scylla sonar to be integrated with the CCS mk2.

The first AN/BYG-1 combat control system was delivered in January 2006 and HMAS Waller is the first submarine to be upgraded with the combat system and heavyweight torpedoes. The installation was completed in April 2007 and the submarine took part in the RIMPAC exercises in Hawaii in June 2008 where it became the first submarine to fire the mk48 mod 7 common broadband advanced sonar system (CBASS) heavyweight torpedo. HMAS Dechaineux was the fourth submarine to complete the upgrade in May 2010. The combat system upgrade programme is scheduled for completion in 2010.

Also in October 2006, the RAN announced approval for the Collins continuous improvement program, which constitutes a rolling upgrade approach. Future improvements being considered are to communications, electronic warfare and periscope optronic sensor systems.

Collins carries the Gould mk48 mod 4 torpedo, which is a wire-guided torpedo with active / passive homing and 267kg warhead. Range is 38km at 55kt or 50km at 40kt. Collins can also carry the BAE Systems Stonefish mkIII mines.

The surface-to-surface missile is the Boeing Sub Harpoon anti-ship missile, which is equipped with active radar homing. The range is up to 30km and the speed Mach 0.9. Sub Harpoon carries a warhead of 227kg.

The ES-5600 system is the electronic support sensor provided by EDO. The EDO ES-5600 ESM system operates in the 2GHz to 18GHz radar band and provides automatic detection, direction finding and identification of radar signals. An EDO Argo Systems AR-740 electronic support measures unit is also fitted.

The I-band navigation radar is the Kelvin Hughes Type 1007 consisting of an antenna unit, a transmitter / receiver and a display. The transmitter / receiver unit operates at 9.410GHz with transmitter power output at 25kW. Collins is equipped with Thales (formerly Pilkington Optronics) CK043 search periscope and CH093 attack periscope, which incorporate a suite of thermal imagers, image intensifiers and low-light television sensors.

Collins deploys the Thales Underwater Systems Scylla active and passive bow array sonar and passive flank, intercept and ranging arrays. The planar sonar array is constructed from flat panels of piezo-electric polyvinyl difluoride which provide bearing data to determine range using low frequencies up to 10kHz.

The Collins class is equipped with three Hedemora / Garden Island Type V18B/14 four-stroke turbo charged diesel engines, each providing 1,475kW. Jeumont Schneider of France supplies the three 1,400kW 440V DC generators.

The main motor is a water cooled DC shunt, double armature motor with rated power of 5,250kW. Emergency propulsion is provided by a MacTaggart Scott DM 43006 retractable hydraulic motor. There is one shaft and a skew back propeller.

The Collins-class submarines are Australian-built diesel-electric submarines operated by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). The Collins class takes its name from Australian Vice Admiral John Augustine Collins; each of the six submarines is named after significant RAN personnel who distinguished themselves in action during World War II. The six vessels were the first submarines built in Australia, prompting widespread improvements in Australian industry and delivering a sovereign (Australian controlled) sustainment/maintenance capability.

Planning for a new design to replace the RAN's Oberon-class submarines began in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Proposals were received from seven companies; two were selected for a funded study to determine the winning design, which was announced in mid-1987. The submarines, enlarged versions of Swedish shipbuilder Kockums' Vstergtland class and originally referred to as the Type 471, were constructed between 1990 and 2003 in South Australia by the Australian Submarine Corporation (ASC).

The Collins class was expected to be retired about 2026, however, the 2016 Defence White Paper extended this into the 2030s.[2][3] The Collins class life will now be extended and will receive an unplanned capability upgrade, including sonar and communications.[2][3]

The initial replacement for the Collins class was to be a conventionally-powered version of the Barracuda-class SSN proposed by Naval Group of France, dubbed the Attack class. On 15 September 2021, in the face of growing delays and cost increases, the Australian government announced the cancellation of the contract with Naval Group, and that the replacement will be a nuclear-powered submarine fleet made in partnership with the United Kingdom and the United States.[4][5]

The proposal for a new type of submarine to replace the Oberon class of diesel-electric submarines began in July 1978, when the RAN director of submarine policy prepared a paper detailing the need to start considering a replacement for the ageing Oberons.[6] The paper also raised the suggestion that the majority of the submarines be constructed in Australia and that the number of submarines be increased beyond the six Oberons.[6] Building the submarines in Australia was initially met with reactions predicting an impossible task because of the poor state of the Australian shipbuilding industry, and Australian industry in general, although campaigning by several figures in Australian industry who thought it could be done came to the attention of those spearheading the project to design the Oberon-class replacement, and led to the view that it was both possible and feasible.[7] The campaign to build submarines in Australia was also met with support from the Australian Labor Party and several trade unions.[8]

The development of the submarine commenced in May 1983, when the government released a request for tender and approached seven of the world's nine diesel-electric submarine manufacturers for submissions.[12][13] The submissions would be narrowed down to two based on the provided information, with these undergoing a funded study to determine the winning design.[13] Tendering companies had to demonstrate how Australian industries would be incorporated into the project, and that they were willing to establish an Australia-based consortium to construct the submarines.[13] All seven companies responded by the end of the year: the combined submissions totalling four tonnes (9,000 lb) of paper.[14][15]

The review board concluded that the IKL/HDW Type 2000 was the best design offered, the Walrus class was rated as 'fair', while Kockums' and Vickers' proposals were considered 'marginal' contenders.[22] However, none of the tenders completely matched the desired RAN specifications, and the two proposals selected would have to be redesigned during the funded study.[23]

The combat data system was procured separately to the submarine design; 14 companies were identified as capable of providing what the RAN wanted, from which eight were approached in January 1983 with a separate request for tender.[12][13] Five responded: a consortium led by Rockwell International of the United States, Plessey of the United Kingdom, Signaal of the Netherlands, Sintra Alcatel of France, and a collaboration between the German Krupp Atlas Elektronik and the British Ferranti.[24] Each tender was required to offer a system with a distributed architecture, despite the absence of an accepted definition for 'distributed computing' at that time, and had to show the cost of programming the software in Ada, although they could offer additional cost breakdowns for other programming languages.[24]

By May 1985, three months behind schedule, the review board narrowed the tenders down to two contenders in each group: IKL/HDW and Kockums for the submarine, Rockwell and Signaal for the combat system.[25] The Walrus and Type 2400 submarine designs were considered to be too expensive to manufacture because of inefficient building practices, while the combat data system tenders had been narrowed down by unjustified development risk in the Plessey and Krupp/Ferranti proposals, and the dual problems in the Sintra Alcatel tender of excessive power usage and incompatibility with the proposed American weapons system.[26] On 9 May, the Australian cabinet approved the selections for the funded studies and decided that six submarines would be built, with the option for two more, all in Australia.[27]

The companies were granted funding for project definition studies, from which the final selections would be made.[28] Liaison teams were sent to each of the four companies to observe the development of the concepts presented in the initial proposals.[29] As part of this process, the two submarine designers were required to establish a consortium with at least 50% Australian ownership: IKL/HDW joined with Eglo Engineering to form Australian Marine Systems, while Kockums (which had originally planned to work with Eglo) became part of a joint venture with the Australian branch of Chicago Bridge & Iron, Wormald International, and the Australian Industry Development Corporation to create the Australian Submarine Corporation.[30]

c01484d022