Aug-Sep-Oct, Nov-Dec 1971-Jan 1972 - Navy League of Australia

\ Satisfactory Connection The NAVY DtPT. andHamworthy EngineeringAust. Pty. Ltd.AIRCRAFTFROMBRITAINSuppliers i>l• I'l MI'S• COMPRESSORS• II \MWORTHY/WALLSfcND MARINE & INDUSTRIALC OMBt STION 101 I P M I M* I or XII I nquiries* C ontraelors lo the NAVN 1)1 PIMESSRS. G. BOWMER, C. BUDDERY.HAMWORTHY ENGINEERING AUST. PTY. LTD.Best Wishes231A VICTORIA ROAD, GLADESVILLE, N.S.W.896-1248 PHONE 89-0674fromTHOMAS ROBINSON &SON PTY. LTD.Specialising* Woodworkers Engineers23 MARIGOLD STREET REVESBY, N.S.W.•Chain and Chisel Mortiser• Band Mills Resaws 4 — Cutters. Sanders* WoodworkersCONTRACTORS TO THC NAVY DEPARTMENT77-0421 Phone 77-0421H.M.A.S. Melbourne and are nearingthe end of their useful life.The Australian Navy acquired 27 ofthese about 10 years ago and if adecision is made that the Sea King isthe ideal replacement, the cost ofup to 30 of them would be more than$40 million.British defence sources appearconfident that the Australian Governmentwill order the Sea King, a twinenginedhelicopter with a top speedof about 150 knots, an endurance ofmore than five hours and equippedwith radar, sonar and other systemsclaimed to be the best in the world.The manufacturers. Westland Ltd.of Yeovil. England, have recently hadteams of experts in Australia briefingdefence officials on the Sea Kingearlier this year.British defence experts believe thatthe only serious competitor is theFrench Super Freion. now in servicewith the French Navy, which,however, has the disadvantage ofbeing half as big again as the SeaKing and much more expensive thanthe latter's approximate price of$1.5-million.The American Sikorsky, fromwhich the British Sea King has beendeveloped under licence, is also inthe field, but it has different enginesand systems and is not believed to behighly fancied by the R.A.N.The Royal Navy has five Sea KingAn arttet't ImprMtion of th* British through d*ck crutMr (hollcoptar carrtor) now (Ming ooughtfb.converted Leander class frigates, for loud in their praise of the Nimrod.its commando carriers and assaultships and also for Arfc Royal.which has been in service for almosttwo years on continuing surveillanceof the waters from Greenland acrossto the Scandinavian coastline anddown to Portugal, an area of 10million square miles.The Lynx appears to be a successstory for British industry, as inaddition to the R.N. orders there aremore from the British and FrenchArmies, the French Navy and theArgentine Navy.Westland is confident of orders formore than 400 Lynx, which have amaximum speed of 180 m.p.h.. arange of more than 400 miles and anendurance of about four hours.The United States Navy is tipped asa likely purchaser, as no othermanufacturer is producing a directcompetitor to this joint Anglo-French venture.It must come under close study byAustralian defence experts in thenear future. As the design of theAustralian light destroyers nearscompletion, definite helicopterrequirements are a must in finaldesign.Another decision of vitalimportance to Australian defence isthe need to replace the rapidlyaging Neptunes. which are still flyingin the older of the two R.A.A.F.maritime reconnaissance squadrons.The R.A.F. is just completing thereplacement of its old long-rangemaritime reconnaissance Shackletonswith the Hawker Siddeleysquadrons in service, their primary Nimrod. a completely new aircraftrole being search and strike as well based on the Comet, bringing newas vertical replenishment.sophistication to anti-submarineWestland Ltd. is also hopeful of the warfare as the first pure-jet aircraftR.A.N, accepting its Anglo-French developed for this role. The R.A.F.light helicopter, the Lynx.has ordered 38 Nimrods and tookThe Royal Navy has them on order possession of the 24th last week.for its Type 42. Type 21 and Both the R.A.F. and the R.N. areCOMPETITORThe R.A.F. describes the Nimrod asa superb aircraft unequalled by anyother flying and regrets that it willnever have enough of them becauseof the cost factor.The R.A.A.F. knows everythingabout it. several teams of HawkerSiddeley experts from the homefactory have already been inAustralia and will be there again inDecember.In early negotiations, the Nimrodappeared to be at a disadvantagewith its main competitor, the updatedAmerican Orion, because ofthe length of airstrip it needed. Butthis problem has now been solvedand it will be capable of operatingfrom any service airfield on the eastcoast of Australia, that is down to thepresent 8.000 feet capacity ofTownsville.British defence experts will notadmit that any other aircraft atpresent in production can equal theperformance of the Nimrod and itdoes not suffer any comparativeprice disadvantage, although thismust present a huge problem to theAustralian Government.The bill for 12 Nimrods with sparescannot be much less than $150million, but this is roughly theamount it will be to replace theNeptunes. whatever aircraft ischosen.Pas* ThirtyTHE NAVY Novamhar-Decembar-January. 1971November-December-January, 1971/72THE NAVYPage Thirty-one