Equip and Sustain the Australian Defence Force

ACPB Sustainment in

Northern Australia Rear Admiral Mark PURCELL, RAN

Head Maritime Systems

Northern Australia Defence Summit

Darwin Convention Centre

29-30 October 2013

Equip and Sustain the Australian Defence Force

Scope

• Defence approach to sustainment of capability

• ACPB Sustainment and Defence considerations

• Cost of sustaining the capability

• Infrastructure and industry capacity

• Future of ACPB and replacement of the capability

Equip and Sustain the Australian Defence Force

ACPB Sustainment Approach

• Most business conducted through Prime Contractors

• Particularly relevant to Northern Australia where breadth and depth of

industry ship repair capability remains both underdeveloped and

stretched

• Local business opportunities limited to supporting Primes

• The ACPB is the primary patrol and response unit assigned to the

Border Protection Command

– Enforcing Australian and International laws at sea

– Responding to suspected illegal activities occurring within

Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction Zones

– Operation Sovereign Borders

Equip and Sustain the Australian Defence Force

Maritime Jurisdiction Zones

1

3 2 5

6

4

!

!

Equip and Sustain the Australian Defence Force

ACPB In-Service Support • Prime contracted to provide 15 years through-life support

• Key contract requirements:

– Provide Integrated Support System delivering 3500 days availability

– Perform the Integrated Support Activities so that the Commonwealth can achieve the Required Availability

– Capability to support ACPB in the Areas of Operations

• Prime is responsible for maintaining platforms and support systems

• Defence pays for annual patrol boat availability delivered

• Defence sustains independently specific government provided equipments

Equip and Sustain the Australian Defence Force

ACPB Sustainment Costs

• Support costs ~$40m per annum

• Planned withdrawal date 2020-22

• Total sustainment costs for remainder of life $345m

• Fixed price maintenance and logistic support comprises 91% of total

cost

• Does not include capability upgrades

Equip and Sustain the Australian Defence Force

Infrastructure & Industry Capacity

• Principle maintenance locations - Darwin and Cairns

• Lack of infrastructure to support increasing maintenance

requirements in those locations

• Lack of surge capacity and depth to meet growth work presented by

ageing fleet

• Seasonal factors impacting maintenance programs more problematic

• Industry capacity limitations has required leveraging a broader supply

network within Australia

• Maintenance activities now also conducted in Brisbane and

Henderson (Singapore for emergency defect repair)

Equip and Sustain the Australian Defence Force

ACPB Sustainment Considerations

• The Prime (Maintenance Authority) determines the location for

conduct of maintenance activities

• Decisions are based on:

– commercial arrangements and cost

– capacity and capability of local industry

– OEM maintenance requirements

– complexity of work and operational imperative

– weather and other seasonal factors

– capacity of in-house capability

• Defence does not direct location or scope of work or repair

methodology but it does inject operational and technical

considerations into decision-making

Equip and Sustain the Australian Defence Force

Prime considerations for Defence

• Impact on ACPB availability and vessel demand

• Performance of contractors in execution of work

• Contractor capabilities, quality management and safety management

• Schedule management and work flow to ensure maintenance is

completed on time

• Management of and planning for emergent work

• Supply Chain lead times

• Maintenance of technical integrity of platforms

• Maintenance of configuration control process

Equip and Sustain the Australian Defence Force

ACPB Capability Issues

• Extremely high-tempo operating environment

• Availability impacted by materiel readiness

• Platform reliability and materiel status impaired by long standing and

emergent defects and high instances of operational damage

• Propulsion system defects and hull corrosion

• Extent of corrosion higher than expected

• Structural cracking becoming more problematic

• Lack of robustness and reliability of some machinery and equipment

increasing rate of failure

Equip and Sustain the Australian Defence Force

Future of the ACPB • ACPB at halfway stage of it planned life of type with decommissioning

set to commence 2020

• ACPB experiencing early ageing due high tempo

• Replacement brought forward in 2013 DWP

• Replacement vessels are more likely to be Patrol Boats, than OCV

Equip and Sustain the Australian Defence Force

Future Challenges

• Skills shortages for Industry, PBSPO, & Navy, in Darwin and the need

to understand how to address this

• Logistical challenges for parts supply from OEMs

• Darwin has no Naval “dockyard”

Equip and Sustain the Australian Defence Force

www.defence.gov.au/dmo equip and sustain the Australian Defence Force