About subs, military/naval, missiles, nuclear weapons & politics. New Aussie subs have been just talk since 2009. Collins upgrades of partial help. UUVs help more. POTUS may cancel AUKUS Virginias in 2031 as the USN needs all SSNs to the 2040s. Australian Gov ignores US higher priority Columbia SSBNs (one/year being commissioned 2029-2041). Meaning no new Virginias 2030-41? Shawn C and Gessler are excellent authors. Pete.
Australia has chosen not to participate in Exercise
MALABAR 2018. This is very likely due to Australia’s desire not to offend its largest trading
partner and regional strategic threat, China. Way back in 2007 I wrote a
MALABAR 2007 article for Newsweekly. In 2007 Australia did participate.
China is concerned MALABAR is just one manifestation of an informal "Quadrilateral" US/Japan/India/Australia alliance (or security dialogue) designed to contain Chinese military power in the Indian and Western Pacific oceans. China usually succeeds in dissuading Australia, the weakest member, from being fully active in the Quadrilateral.
Malabar exercise from June 7 to 16. - The Navies of India, Japan and the U.S. will enhance
their anti-submarine warfare skills in this year’s Malabar naval war games to
be held off the coast of Guam [in the Western Pacific Ocean] from June 7 to 16.
For the first time in a Malabar exercise, all three
Navies are deploying their maritime reconnaissance (MR) aircraft to sharpen
those skills.
“Each side has aircraft which can lay sono buoys and we
will also monitor each other’s sono buoys. We will cross-attach people from all
three countries,” the Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral G. Ashok
Kumar, said.
While the Indian Navy is deploying a P-8I long-range MR
aircraft, the U.S. is deploying two P-8A aircraft and Japan is sending a
Kawasaki P-1 MR aircraft. In addition, Japan and the U.S. have anti-submarine
warfare helicopters on board their helicopter carrier JS Ise and aircraft
carrier USS Ronald Reagan,
respectively.
...[Exercise MALABAR] began in 1992 as a bilateral naval exercise
between India and the US and has over the years increased in scope and
complexity with particular focus on ASW in view of increasing Chinese submarine
movement in the Indian Ocean under the garb of anti-piracy patrols."
Putin, an ex intelligence officer, sets the overall strategy for Russian foreign policy including Russian intelligence. Russian intelligence operates on the established international political zero-sum game principle, ie: “The more the Western alliance is
destabilized the better Russia is doing.”
Hence Russia was highly enthusiastic about harbouring
Edward Snowden, who carried information that caused distrust between the US
government and US public and tension between the US and many of its allies.
And conspiracy theorists might now be correct in
concluding Russian help for Trump’s campaign put a man in the Presidency
guaranteed generate ongoing tension in US society and within the Western alliance.
As the US Government sends out mixed, often contradictory, signals to allies and opponents, more countries are hedging with research into components maybe for future nuclear capabilities. For example Japan has long been developing and using the 1,500kg payload Epsilon rocket (see context).
Now Australia and Singapore may be entering the beginnings (in 2 decades?) of nuclear (payload) capable rocket development. Multi-stage rockets of sufficient size and range provide dual civilian/military possibilities.
Rocket engine tests, launch pads and test flights are not possible in Singapore's extremely limited 721.5 km2 land area, in which 5.612 million people are crowded. The sea around Singapore, crowded with ships, is also ill-suited to be a test range. In contrast Australia has used its wide open spaces to test rockets for decades at RAAF Woomera Range Complex, South Australia. Some Australians have also suggested Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia, as a potential launch site. Cape York is better suited in terms of Earth rotational physics and avoiding populated areas. This is because Cape York is nearer the Equator and rockets can be fired easterly and more safely over the Coral Sea.
MEDIA RELEASE
Gilmour Space March 2018: 70 kN of thrust (15,700 lbs) generated
in what could be the world's largest successful test fire of a single-port
hybrid rocket engine. The test was held in Australia.
---
"Gilmour Space prepares for
suborbital hybrid rocket launch with 75 kN (16,900 lbs) test-fire
“Our low-cost launch capability could
provide a significant comparative (and competitive) advantage to Australia and
Singapore’s new space industry.”
- Adam Gilmour, CEO & Founder, Gilmour Space
Technologies
AUSTRALIA & SINGAPORE, MAY 28, 2018 – [Australian-Singaporean] rocket
company, Gilmour Space
Technologies, has completed a longer duration
test-fire of its proprietary hybrid rocket engine, bringing it
one step closer to launching Australia and Singapore's first
privately-developed commercial rockets to space.
"This was a 12-second static fire of
what will be our first-stage orbital rocket engine. It
demonstrated stable thrust, and peaked at 75 kilonewtons
(or 16,900 pounds) of force,” said the company’s CEO and Founder, Adam
Gilmour. An earlier test in March had generated 70 kN, reportedly then the world’s largest successful test
of a single-port hybrid rocket engine.
“75 kN marks a new record for this engine, and
is more than what we will need for our coming suborbital and orbital launches,”
he added. (Watch
test-fire video)
Next stop: Suborbital space
Gilmour Space is planning
a suborbital test launch in the third quarter of this year, and
is working with the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to
approve the launch from a remote private property in Queensland.
“Our first test rocket launch in mid 2016 was a sub-scale
demonstration of our new hybrid engine technology, and its success
led to our Series A investment,” he explained.
“The next launch will be the flight
test of a full-scale engine, which we plan to use in the
first stage of our Eris orbital rocket.” 'Eris' is the company's
three-stage hybrid rocket dedicated to launching small satellites (up to
400 kg) to Low Earth Orbit by 2020.
“It will also be a test of our mobile
launch platform, which we've designed to enable rapid and low-cost
launches from remote locations,” he added. "Interestingly, this
capability for responsive launch is one that other countries like the US,
Europe and UK are trying very hard to develop right now."
Being new, being nimble
This latest test-fire comes just two weeks
after the Australian government officially launched the Australian Space Agency and released details of a
nine-month space industry review.
The report included recommendations
to support 'next generation’ rocket propulsion systems, and
make necessary changes to the Space Activities
Act to enable commercial small satellite launches from
Australia.
"With Gilmour Space's technology
and low-cost launch capabilities, small satellite launches could
easily be a 'low-hanging fruit' for Australia. Our significant progress
puts us as one of the front-runners in today's global small launch market,
and we look forward to working with commercial, civil and defence partners
to build a stronger and more vibrant domestic space industry in
Australia and Singapore."
To the stars.
ABOUT GILMOUR SPACE TECHNOLOGIES
Gilmour Space Technologies is an Australia and Singapore-based rocket company that is developing low-cost launch vehicles for the small satellite/payload market.
Key milestones since beginning its rocket program in 2015:
June 2016: Gilmour Space first made headlines when it successfully flew the countries'first privately developed hybrid rocket to an altitude of 5 Km using proprietary 3D printed fuel (reportedly a world-first demonstration).
June 2017: It raised AUD 5 million (USD 3.7 million) in Series-A funding from venture capital firms Blackbird Ventures and 500 Startups, among others. Gilmour Space has also been awarded various R&D grants in Singapore and Australia.
August 2017: Successfully ground tested a high-impulse Cubesat Propulsion System, which could potentially power a 1U cubesat to the orbit of the Moon or Mars.
January 2018: Announced results of its first full-scale orbital engine test in December, which generated 45 kN in a low-pressure test fire.
February 2018: Signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA to collaborate on various space research and technology development initiatives.
March 2018: 70 kN of thrust (15,700 lbs) generated in what could be the world's largest successful test fire of a single-port hybrid rocket engine.
Considered one of the leading space startups in Australia and Singapore, Gilmour Space is scaling up to launch their first rockets to suborbital space in 2018, and to LEO in 2020.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Michelle Gilmour
Director, Marketing & Communications, Gilmour Space Technologies
Senator Rex Patrick, writing in Australia’s useful website DEFENCE CONNECT, reports https://www.defenceconnect.com.au/maritime-antisub/2322-a-french-led-lithium-revolution-for-australia:
“Naval Group’s recently released Australian
Industry Plan[1]gave the strongest indication yet that
Australia’s Future Submarines will be powered by lithium-ion batteries. One
senator has argued such a decision could allow Defence to act as a catalyst for
lucrative commercial opportunities...”
All Following by Pete (generally
quoting Australian Government or Naval Group) NOT by Rex Patrick or Defence
Connect
[1]the declassified
on [May 10 2018] Plan (a very large PDF document, about 26 MB. 60
pages, including graphics) need to download
whole Plan onto your computer to rotate some of the tables (eg, page 19 and
21) ) was originally Drafted by November 27, 2015 by Naval Group (then DCNS)
and maybe Submission “17”. Up until
May 9, 2018 it as classified:
Security Caveats
On top of page immediately below Minister for Defence's Cover letter is the crossed out caveats:
Pete Comment - it is understandable document was RELeased
to AUStralia, FRAnce and USA (a US company (Lockheed Martin chosen) was always to be Combat System Integrator and there was/is US program management advice overall). But why it was released to “GBR”, presumably Great
Britain(?), is a mystery.
Much blacked
out redacting follows, like
Some interesting pages of the Plan:
Top Cover Letter indicates document was released by Minister for Defence, Marise Payne letterhead, dated “10 May 2018”
page 19 - Australian
Maritime College (AMC) Launceston, Tasmania, Australia, may handle “Hydrodynamics,
Naval Design and Maritime Engineering”. Summary Students form French naval
engineering establishments may spend 3 to 10 months at AMC on internships.
Defence Material Technology Centre (Victoria, Australia) may
handle “Materials and processes” like “welding” and “bounding”.
University of Newcastle (NSW, Australia) may handle “Bacterial and
microbiological corrosion”
page 21
[needs rotating]
[Pete Comment – The following Declassified
details on Lithium-ion Batteries are
non-committal. The large, blacked out, redacted bits prevent any conclusion.] Section
on “Lithium-ion batteries [mostly black line redacted] DCNS has been working on
lithium-ion battery technologies for many years with different partners” [big
redaction] Many research initiatives are also occurring in Australia both in
the defence space and in adjacent industries that could lead to technology
breakthrough. The” [big redaction].
H I Sutton at Covert Shores regularly publishes interesting articles on submarines. For example:
Increase in #Russian Submarine
Activity of 22 May 2018http://www.hisutton.com/Russian_Submarine_Activity.html "There have been reports that Russian submarine
activity has returned to Cold War levels. This article uses publicly available
data to compare recent activity to Cold War levels...." See WHOLE CORVERT SHORESARTICLE
A useful Table courtesy Covert Shores. It indicates the steep decline in Russian submarine numbers since the Cold War years (1947-1991) with over 400 Russian subs in some years) to many less than 100 since 1991 (eg. 66 in 2016). What trends do you see in the Table (eg. more than 200 SSKs in 1980)?
