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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
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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