Hunter frigates will be the best – Marles

Defence Minister Richard Marles has defended the Hunter class anti-submarine warfare frigates being built in Adelaide by BAE Systems from criticism over their $4 billion price tag.

Speaking in Darwin where the government received its first MQ-4C Triton long range, long endurance surveillance UAV (pictured), Marles was asked whether $4 billion was good value for a Hunter class frigate?

Marles said: “The Hunter class frigates are going to be as capable a frigate as exists in the world today.

“Hunter class frigates will be the quietest frigate that exists in the world today.

“And we are very excited about what Hunter will add to our surface fleet – it will really be at the heart of our surface combatant fleet.”

Hunter is primarily for anti-submarine detection in our northern approaches and will boast a Mk45 Mod 4 5″ gun and torpedoes, but is also armed with anti-ship missiles and SM2 & ESSM anti-aircraft missiles launched from vertical launch tubes.

However it has come under attack by those who would see the Royal Australian Navy buy sea and land attack ships instead, as well as for its cost and allegations the ship is overweight.

The Triton unmanned aerial vehicle is a large aircraft with a 39.9 metre wingspan. It flies at 50,000 feet and has a range of 15,000km, allowing it to survey large areas of ocean.

Marles said: “Given, in a sense, what this announcement today is about is an acknowledgement of the vastness of our ocean approaches, of the areas that we need to surveil, of the task at hand for our Defence Force, in terms of surveilling and going after the assets of any adversary at sea, Hunter is right at the forefront of that as well.

“So, we are really looking forward to Hunter.

“Hunter has had its issues, but it is very much back on track, and we are looking forward to the implementation of Hunter into our surface fleet.”

Further reading:
Hunter class frigate is fit to fight – by Craig Lockhart, managing director of shipbuilder BAE Systems Maritime Australia

Picture: Defence/Kym Smith/Richard Marles and Chief of the Royal Australian Air Force, Air Marshal Stephen Chappell and the MQ-4C Triton aircraft