Home Asia Pacific Australia releases tender for Hobart-class destroyer maintenance

Australia releases tender for Hobart-class destroyer maintenance

Hobart-class destroyers
Hobart Class Destroyers, HMA Ships Hobart, Brisbane and Sydney, work together at sea for the first time off the east coast of Australia in late 2020. Photo: Royal Australian Navy

The Australian defense ministry has launched a tender for the “capability life cycle manager” program, which will see industry support and sustain the Hobart-class air warfare destroyers through their lifespan.

Defense industry minister Melissa Price encouraged Australian industry to become part of a new approach to sustaining the navy’s ships.

“This model builds on the success of our continuous naval shipbuilding initiative and has been designed to ensure we can continue to deliver complex naval capability at sea that is reliable and fit-for-purpose,” minister Price said.

“It includes performing asset management for the capability and supporting the upgrade of their combat management system.

The government said it plans to invest up to A$5.1 billion for the upgrades at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in South Australia, as part of a major expansion of Australia’s naval capabilities announced on 16 September 2021.

The destroyers will be the first major platform to have a capability life cycle manager, a further step in the realization of the Future Maritime Sustainment Model under Plan Galileo – defense’s new national approach to sustainment.

It follows the appointment of Raytheon as the capability life cycle manager for the new Arafura-class offshore patrol vessels in December 2020.

An industry briefing will be held about the Hobart class destroyer sustainment program on November 4.

Tenders will need to be received on or before January 21, 2022.