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Critical military equipment has been reclaimed from decommissioned frigate ex-HMAS Anzac and put into Royal Australian Navy storage to support the operational readiness of the Anzac Class.
Ex-HMAS Anzac’s vertical launch missile system, propulsion diesel engines, propellers, drive train components and other platform and combat systems were among the essential equipment harvested, according to a statement published by Babcock Australasia.
With recycling efforts now complete, the former warship has been handed over to a disposal team.
The collection is expected to deliver significant cost savings to Defence through increased component availability and reduced delivery lead times.
The reclaimed assets will be drawn upon as required to see the remaining seven Anzac Class frigates through to their end of life. Some equipment has already been transferred to other ships of the class, supporting operations and helping to expedite the ships’ return to service post maintenance.
“The WAMA alliance worked closely with the customer to develop a list of key equipment for removal, and I’m pleased to say we have exceeded those expectations, recovering additional assets beyond those initially requested,” Babcock Australasia Marine Program Delivery director Carl Blacow said.
“This delivers long-term operational advantages to Defence because some of these valuable items have long lead times to repair or procure. Having these components readily available as spares will significantly reduce delivery times and enhance fleet readiness.
“We will now host a forum with Defence and our WAMA partners to capture lessons learned and look for further efficiencies which can be fed through to Babcock’s Regional Maintenance Provider-West team, for future work of this kind as Babcock becomes the sole sustainer of the Anzac Class vessels in the West.”
Babcock acted as principal contractor on the six-month project on behalf of the Warship Asset Management Agreement (WAMA) alliance, a strategic partnership between Babcock, BAE Systems, SAAB, and the Commonwealth of Australia, committed to delivering materially seaworthy warships and driving long term efficiencies for the Royal Australian Navy.
Approximately 30,000 work hours were dedicated to successfully delivering the complex task, which required precise engineering to create access routes across multiple vessel levels, to ensure the safe extraction of key components.
Babcock introduced efficiencies in this process by removing obstructions throughout the ship to enable equipment removal via trolley instead of lifting gear, streamlining the recovery effort.
Additional expertise from Commonwealth and WAMA partners, and from subject matter experts and OEMs, including Penske, IKAD, Allship Engineering and Kongsberg, also played a crucial role in securing key components for reuse.
