Page 9 - AVALON 2023 - Day 3 | DAILY NEWS

© RAN

SCHIEBEL EMBARKS ON

AUSTRALIAN NAVAL JOURNEY

Last year, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) two years of acquisition, and five years Australia (Aerosonde V4/HQ).
selected Schiebel’s S-100 Camcopter rota- of sustainment. Knechtl said no decision
ry-winged UAV as its next platform for has been made on the number of aircraft Sea 129 Phase 5 will span 30 years, with
shipboard use. Raytheon Australia is head- to be procured. Instead, the RAN talks five-year rolling block upgrades occur-
ing the programme, and it was appointed to about eight capability bricks, with Schiebel ring to incorporate new technologies.
meet the single-source acquisition, rather Pacific expecting each brick to consist of Commencing in 2024, Block 1 will acquire
than the navy proceeding through a com- 2-3 aircraft. A handful more UAVs would be eight capability bricks of UAVs operating
petitive tender. needed for training purposes. primarily from Arafura-class offshore patrol
vessels and Anzac-class frigates.
This programme is known as Project Sea The RAN’s 822x Squadron has already been
129 Phase 5 Block 1, and many were operating three S-100s since 2018, so the Block 2 will proceed from 2029, refreshing
somewhat surprised that Australia was navy is familiar with the platform, and this Block 1 systems and adding five further
fast-tracking the procurement in this way. past experience could have been upper- capability bricks to equip Hunter-class frig-
Canberra calls it ‘progressive industry most in the RAN’s mind. Indeed, the trio ates and deployment on other ship classes.
engagement’, and the aim is to get S-100s was retrofitted with heavy-fuel S-2 engines. There will also be Block 3, introducing a
in the hands of the navy more quickly, That particular contract was extended in comprehensive update and refresh of
reaching an initial operational capability July 2021 for a further three years, and the UAV to integrate new payloads and
a whole 18 months earlier by the RAN’s three extra S-100s were added to the navy’s capabilities.
reckoning. squadron.
Incidentally, Schiebel announced its new
However, the Defence Strategic Review The design, development, manufacture, and larger S-300 Camcopter at last week’s
has created uncertainty for a number of integration and support of the system will IDEX 2023 exhibition in Abu Dhabi. The
defence projects, and the same is true of be undertaken in Australia, at Schiebel’s S-300 offers extended range, greater endur-
Sea 129 Phase 5. With the acquisition cur- hub in Shoalhaven, New South Wales. It will ance and a larger 250kg payload capacity. It
rently in somewhat of a holding pattern, create approximately 100 jobs in Australia. could thus carry other types of radars or be
Fabian Knechtl, Schiebel Pacific’s Managing used for submarine warfare, for instance.
Director, nevertheless hopes a contract will Schiebel defeated other contenders BAE
be signed before the end of 2023. Systems Australia, Insitu Pacific (with the Knechtl said that the S-300 could be
ScanEagle/Integrator), Northrop Grumman offered to Australia too as part of future
Once signed, it is expected to comprise Australia (AWHero) and Textron Systems blocks and upgrades.
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