Felix the Cat
01-03-2008, 10:05 AM
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22995196-5001021,00.html
AUSTRALIA'S naval defence is in tatters with claims that despite a $1.4 billion "upgrade", frontline fighting ships are unable to be sent into battle.
For the first time a navy insider close to the 4000-tonne Adelaide class guided missile frigates upgrade project has provided details of one of the biggest defence scandals in the nation's history.
The whistleblower told The Daily Telegraph that the situation is so dire that sailors are quitting the navy because their ships can not be deployed to the Middle East or other conflict zones.
And senior officials now admit that the 1997 frigate upgrade project was a "debacle" created by the Howard government's decision to maximise the sale price of the Sydney-based contractor Australian Defence Industries when it was sold to French firm Thales.
The project is four years late, includes four ships - not the original six as commissioned - and they just don't work.
Late last year Chief of Navy Vice-Admiral Russ Shalders refused to accept HMAS Sydney, the first ship in the program, for "operational release" because its war fighting systems did not function properly.
The whistleblower said the ships' anti-missile and anti-torpedo systems could not be integrated and their electronic support measures - the ship's eyes and ears for detecting incoming airborne threats - were a joke.
"That means they would be going into a war zone virtually blind," the informant said.
In addition the ships are unable to link their helicopters to war fighting data or use long-range chaff which confuses enemy missiles and takes them away from the ship.
The ships are also unable to integrate towed and on-board sonars to detect enemy torpedoes.
Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said the FFG upgrade was "another nightmare" that Labor had inherited and would have to manage as best as it could.
According to government auditors up to 98 per cent of the money has already been paid to Thales despite the fact the project is four years late and not one ship is operational.
The latest defence debacle follows a growing list of projects either incomplete or seriously over-budget.
The most infamous was the Collins submarines, which were noisy, leaked, had engine trouble and their combat systems did not work. More recently, the Super Seasprite helicopter has joined the stuff-up roll of honour.
Another hi-tech project with a $500 million blow-out tag is the Jindalee Over the Horizon Radar network. The project also ran four years behind schedule.
AUSTRALIA'S naval defence is in tatters with claims that despite a $1.4 billion "upgrade", frontline fighting ships are unable to be sent into battle.
For the first time a navy insider close to the 4000-tonne Adelaide class guided missile frigates upgrade project has provided details of one of the biggest defence scandals in the nation's history.
The whistleblower told The Daily Telegraph that the situation is so dire that sailors are quitting the navy because their ships can not be deployed to the Middle East or other conflict zones.
And senior officials now admit that the 1997 frigate upgrade project was a "debacle" created by the Howard government's decision to maximise the sale price of the Sydney-based contractor Australian Defence Industries when it was sold to French firm Thales.
The project is four years late, includes four ships - not the original six as commissioned - and they just don't work.
Late last year Chief of Navy Vice-Admiral Russ Shalders refused to accept HMAS Sydney, the first ship in the program, for "operational release" because its war fighting systems did not function properly.
The whistleblower said the ships' anti-missile and anti-torpedo systems could not be integrated and their electronic support measures - the ship's eyes and ears for detecting incoming airborne threats - were a joke.
"That means they would be going into a war zone virtually blind," the informant said.
In addition the ships are unable to link their helicopters to war fighting data or use long-range chaff which confuses enemy missiles and takes them away from the ship.
The ships are also unable to integrate towed and on-board sonars to detect enemy torpedoes.
Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said the FFG upgrade was "another nightmare" that Labor had inherited and would have to manage as best as it could.
According to government auditors up to 98 per cent of the money has already been paid to Thales despite the fact the project is four years late and not one ship is operational.
The latest defence debacle follows a growing list of projects either incomplete or seriously over-budget.
The most infamous was the Collins submarines, which were noisy, leaked, had engine trouble and their combat systems did not work. More recently, the Super Seasprite helicopter has joined the stuff-up roll of honour.
Another hi-tech project with a $500 million blow-out tag is the Jindalee Over the Horizon Radar network. The project also ran four years behind schedule.