Replacement of Australia's Collins Class Submarines

tychosis said:
Frankly, most of the tactical systems back in the day were effectively Fisher-Price My First Sonar in comparison to systems today. Old "if X breaks replace Y" troubleshooting methods simply don't work anymore. As I alluded to in a previous post, you have to have a deeper understanding of system function and be able to approach troubleshooting holistically. I'm not even sure you can train people on that--you just have to have experience working with the systems and develop that toolbox, and that's not something the fleet can do given their ridiculous optempo.
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Way back in the day, before I was in even, the USN had a special school called Undocumented Troubleshooting. Friend of mine went to that school.

He is currently one of 3 people with red-line/rewrite authority on the digital depth detectors. He's a WG employee, not even a GS.
 
www.abc.net.au

The Australian Navy has been left with just one fully operational submarine

The Australian Navy has been left with just one fully operational submarine as the rest of its aging Collins-class fleet undergoes urgent repairs or await upgrades. Defence sources have confirmed to the ABC two of the Collins submarines are currently stationed in Adelaide, where there are delays...
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au

So, what is the shelf life on a Mk48.

Regards,
 
Halcyon66 said:
www.abc.net.au

The Australian Navy has been left with just one fully operational submarine

The Australian Navy has been left with just one fully operational submarine as the rest of its aging Collins-class fleet undergoes urgent repairs or await upgrades. Defence sources have confirmed to the ABC two of the Collins submarines are currently stationed in Adelaide, where there are delays...
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au

So, what is the shelf life on a Mk48.

Regards,
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As far as I know, pretty long. Otto fuel is long term stable, as is the filler.
 
Scott Kenny said:
As far as I know, pretty long. Otto fuel is long term stable, as is the filler.
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Yeah they're also generally delivered in pieces for final assembly and test in Australia--so that total will include all necessary in-service support equipment updates etc etc.

Given they aren't delivering fully-assembled fueled-up torpedo bodies, you really can't break that price tag down to an estimated number of fieldable weapons.
 
My guess is the lifespan is more or less indefinite given periodic (every decade or two) maintenance recertifications. The Tomahawks are like this; they go on to have everything inspected and any shelf unstable parts replaced and get a new sell by date. USNs blk V is actually an electronics update package applied to the blk IV as they cycle through recert.
 
tychosis said:
Yeah they're also generally delivered in pieces for final assembly and test in Australia--so that total will include all necessary in-service support equipment updates etc etc.
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Part of that may be so that Oz can shoot them as exercise torpedoes.

Mk48s get shot several times as unarmed exercise torpedoes before they get a warhead installed. Mk14 trauma still haunts the USN.
 
Scott Kenny said:
Mk48s get shot several times as unarmed exercise torpedoes before they get a warhead installed. Mk14 trauma still haunts the USN.
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Yeah, we were first in the class so we shipped and shot a lot of exercise weapons.

(I'd rather shoot them than have to unship them again though. It's an unpleasant evolution at any time of the year.)
 
tychosis said:
Yeah, we were first in the class so we shipped and shot a lot of exercise weapons.

(I'd rather shoot them than have to unship them again though. It's an unpleasant evolution at any time of the year.)
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Yeah, the offload so we could load EXTORPs for TRE was a pain in the ass.



Foo Fighter said:
Do those exercise weapons get recovered?
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Yes, there's a small tugboat that drags a net through the water as a target, plus there's a ballast tank in the exercise "warhead" section, and finally there's a very significant reward if random fishermen recover one.

They get recovered, refueled, shot again, repeat till required number of firings is reached. Edit: Then, and only then, are they fitted with a live warhead and declared "ready for use" as a warshot.
 
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jeffb said:
What's the date again?
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Ha, Alex is still on ex-Twitter I see. Good commentary as always.

Not that I'm up on speed on TKMS's capacity but actually mating a Type 212 variant with a K15 reactor tickles more than just my funny bone. As all kinds of bad previously unlikely ridiculous things are made to happen then why not make good previously unthinkable beneficial things happen too? I mean, the potential risks that could be realized for France, Germany and any potential (democratic-human-rights-respecting-rules-based-world-order-preferring) customer for such a contraption are magnitudes greater than making a further asset to help dissuade those that would willfully realize those risks. Come to think of it - besides Australia's predicament - given the huge sales of Ozempic in the US (and the market appreciation that goes with it), Denmark could now reinvest some of that income, return the courtesy and have some real assets patrol, say, around somewhere like Greenland. To help slim down some bloated ambitions as well, so to say. Win-win.

I know, I know, easier ways to go about it but gimmeabreak, can't you see I'm indulging here?
 
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