More warships for Australian Navy as major shake-up unveiled

The Royal Australian Navy’s fleet of warships will be boosted to more than 20 under a major defence shake-up.

Defence Minister Richard Marles will unveil the government’s plan to expand the current fleet of 11 combat ships on Tuesday as the deforce force pivots to project its firepower deeper into the Pacific.

The exact number of vessels has not been confirmed but the minister offered some clues in the public version of the foreword to a review of the navy’s surface fleet, which will be released later in the day.

The fleet will be “twice as large as planned when we came to government ... and with more of these new surface combatants in the water and operational sooner”, he said according to excerpts seen by AAP.

The minister also agreed to commit to continuous naval shipbuilding to get boats off the production line.

The review of the surface fleet is also expected to make 18 recommendations after considering the fleet’s makeup, shipbuilding schedule, cost and workforce issues.

It is also expected to find current plans for the navy’s fleet aren’t enough given the risk Australia faces on top of underlying cost pressures.

The current operational fleet is believed to be the oldest in the navy’s history.

The new vessels could come at the expense of the troubled Hunter-class frigates, which will reportedly be cut down to six ships from nine.

Mr Marles has previously criticised the former coalition government for underfunding the frigate program because the actual cost of the nine vessels was closer to $65 billion, against the $45 billion flagged.

Every review in the past 50 years has said the navy needs 16 to 20 ships, national security expert and former navy commander Jennifer Parker said on Monday.

“The challenge for the Royal Australian Navy has always been that it doesn’t have enough ships,” she told ABC radio.

The navy is also struggling with staff shortages and is more than 880 personnel — or 6.5 per cent — below strength.

Given the navy’s crewing challenges, having a larger number of smaller vessels would allow it to operate in more places off the coast, Ms Parker said.

The challenge would be to get adequately armed warships before the ageing ANZAC-class frigates come out of the water and the first of the “underarmed” Hunters come into service in the early 2030s, Strategic Analysis Australia director Michael Shoebridge said.

“But the most well-armed design at the best price is meaningless if it can’t be built and delivered into naval service this decade,” he said.

Any cut to the frigate program would result in the cost for each frigate going up, opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie.

“The question has to be for the government, what can we fix by 2026? Because the strategic situation is deteriorating,” he told ABC radio.

The surface fleet review was sparked by a broader inquiry into the Australian Defence Force’s readiness to tackle future challenges.

It recommended Australia boost the navy’s lethal capacity.