Government Of Australia News

On a windswept island 50 miles north of Seattle sits a U.S. Navy monitoring station. For years, it was kept busy tracking whale movements and measuring rising sea temperatures. Last October, the Navy gave the unit a new name that better reflects its current mission: Theater Undersea Surveillance Command.The renaming of the spy station at the Whidbey Island naval base is a nod to a much larger U.S. military project, according to three people with direct knowledge of the plans:…

Last year experts raised their eyebrows when the Morrison government announced Australia would abandon its contract for French-built Attack class submarines, in favor of eight nuclear-powered submarines delivered under the AUKUS partnership.Retired Royal Australian Navy Chief Petty Officer Greg Jones was one key individual who questioned whether the choice is appropriate for Australia’s defense needs (at least in the short to medium term).One particularly controversial point is the time it will take for the nuclear submarines to become operational.

Shipbuilder Austal Australia has delivered the seventh Guardian-class Patrol Boat (GCPB) to the Australian Department of Defense. The vessel, PSS President H.I. Remeliik II, was gifted by the Government of Australia to the Government of Palau during a handover ceremony at Austal Australia’s Henderson shipyard.Austal Chief Executive David Singleton said this Guardian-class Patrol Boat delivery was unique as it is the first to take place under COVID-19 restrictions.The 39.5-meter steel monohull patrol boat—designed…

The Northern Territory (NT) Government in Australia announced the successful bidder for the Port of Darwin – Landbridge Group, based in the People’s Republic of China. Chinese privately owned energy and infrastructure conglomerate Landbridge Group has won a $A506 million bid to run Australia's Port of Darwin for 99 years, NT's Chief Minister Adam Giles announced. Under the terms of the agreement, the Northern Territory will lease the Darwin Port land and facilities of East Arm Wharf, including the Darwin Marine Supply Base, and Fort Hill Wharf to Landbridge Group for 99 years. The three arms of the defence force, the Australian Signals Directorate, the Defence Security Agency and Defence's strategic policy division were all consulted about the 99-year lease to the Landbridge Group.

Fleet Ocean Tug USNS Apache (T-ATF 172) departed Norfolk, Virginia, today to begin searching for wreckage from the missing U.S. flagged merchant vessel El Faro. The ship is deploying to a search area northeast of Crooked Island in the Bahamas island chain, which is the last known location of the vessel. The initial search area is 100 square miles, and water depth is estimated to be 15,000 feet across the expected search area. Transit to this search area is expected to take four-to-five days due to weather.

The Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) in the Port of Manila has started implementing a vehicle appointment system called Terminal Appointment Booking System (TABS) for selected user groups. Largely seen as a proactive alternative to counterproductive truck bans, TABS is an electronic platform for booking containers in the two international ports of Manila. Designed to optimize the entry and exit of containerized cargo to and from MICT, TABS was developed in response to restrictive road policies that were introduced to combat the congestion of Manila ports in 2014 as a result of the truck ban imposed by the Manila City Government. “The implementation of TABS is a move in the right direction.

The Government of Australia has cleared project proposals to expand a port for two coal projects of both Adani Enterprises and GVK Hancock opposed by green groups. The Labor government in Queensland will allow mining companies Adani and GVK to dredge in Great Barrier Reef waters to expand a coal port but will make them pay for it themselves. "The Queensland Government is restarting the approvals process for expanding the Abbot Point coal terminal in north Queensland in a bid to keep dredge spoil away from both the Great Barrier Reef and nearby wetlands," says an official statement. The government’s deal with the miners on Abbot Point…

Australia needs new submarines. That much is clear. Where these subs are to come from and where exactly they will be built remains far less clear. Federal Liberals in the state are already furiously lobbying him to build the next fleet locally, rather than opt for an overseas design. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute also said the possible acquisition of Japanese submarines by Australia raised significant challenges. The case for building the next generation of Royal Australian Navy (RAN) submarines in Australia begins with the stand-out attributes that make submarines so important for Australia as a whole: they must be able to operate in areas a long way from home, without air or sea control, to watch, listen, evaluate and act when necessary.

BMT WBM (BMT), a subsidiary of the BMT Group, a leading international maritime design, engineering and risk management consultancy, has partnered with Buckley Vann town planners and the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Queensland to develop a comprehensive climate change adaptation plan for the provincial capital of Choiseul in the Solomon Islands. The capital is located on Taro Island, a small coral atoll within Choiseul Bay, mostly less than two metres above mean sea level. Coastal hazards such as tsunami and ocean storms present a significant risk to the Taro Island community, and these hazards will be compounded in the future with climate change and sea level rise in particular.

In the very near future, the new scientific Research Vessel Investigator will enter service for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), an agency of the Federal Government of Australia. Investigator went to sea for her initial sea trials in December 2013. Once deployed, Investigator will be among the quietest and most capable research vessels in the world, serving multiple, diverse scientific roles in a geographical areas spanning one-third the circumference of the globe.

At the end of 2013, the team of Sembawang Shipyard of Singapore and Teekay Shipping Australia will hand over the new scientific Research Vessel Investigator to her owners, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), an agency of the Federal Government of Australia. The Investigator will be among the most capable and quietest non-naval research vessels in the world. It will serve Australia in diverse scientific operations ranging over an area from the equator to the ice shelf of Antarctica and spanning almost 1/3rd of the circumference of the globe.

Strategic Marine also delivers fourth of eight windfarm service supply ships for UK operator  in Singapore. Strategic Marine, a specialist shipbuilder with operations in Singapore, Australia and Vietnam, will build the Long Term Ashmore Capability (LTAC) for Gardline Australia Pty Ltd on behalf of the Government of Australia. The LTAC will be a 40-meter On Station Vessel designed for reliable, flexible self-sufficiency on longterm deployment in tropical areas. The order was awarded after a successful tender prepared under a teaming arrangement between Gardline Australia Pty Ltd…

Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems and Sensors, Moorestown, N.J., is being awarded a $44,910,868 cost-plus award/fixed-fee contract for combat systems engineering. The grant will support the government of Australia under the Foreign Military Sales Program - Case AT-P-LCQ – after it selected the Navy/Lockheed Martin Aegis Combat System for its Australian Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) Program. These requirements include the necessary combat systems engineering, computer program development, ship integration and test logistics technical services, NSCC/CSEDS equipment, and staging support to design and build an Aegis Weapon System (AWS) baseline to support the AWD Program. The AWD AWS baseline will be derived from a technology refreshed variant of the Navy AWS baseline 7 Phase I.

BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems, Nashua, N.H., is being awarded a $33,676,912 modification to a previously awarded firm fixed price contract (N00019-08-C-0044) for the Low Rate Initial Production Lot V of the Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) AN/ALE-55(V) Subsystems and associated technical support and non-recurring engineering for the U.S. Navy and Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18E/F aircraft. The AN/ALE-55(V) subsystem consists of an electronic frequency converter (EFC) and a fiber optic towed decoy (FOTD). This modification provides for a total of 70 EFCs for the U.S. Navy, (58) and the Royal Austra lian Air Force, (12); and 323 FOTDs for the U.S. Navy, (251) and the Royal Australian Air Force, (72).

The 2008 IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea has been presented to a Brazilian seafarer who saved fellow crew members from a dangerous fire on a ship. Mr. Rodolpho Fonseca da Silva Rigueira, of the drill ship Noble Roger Eason, nominated by the Government of Brazil, for his decisive, selfless action to rescue six fellow crew members from a catastrophic fire which burst out on it. The fire originated from an explosion, causing imminent risk to the lives of crew members in the vicinity of the explosion; yet, instead of evacuating the area, he repeatedly faced the fire and very high temperatures to save his colleagues, at severe risk to his own life. Mr. Rigueira was presented with the award by IMO Secretary-General Mr. Efthimios E.

Salvage services with environmental objectives are undervalued, according to the International Salvage Union. ISU President Joop Timmermans told some 200 delegates at the March 2003 Fourth International Marine Salvage Conference: “In the ISU’s view, environmental defense – as a function of salvage – is undervalued. The ISU–sponsored conference was held at the London headquarters of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Joop Timmermans said the salvor’s reward for his traditional role, property recovery, was related to the value of that property. As for any additional value placed on environmental – or public interest – salvage services, the Special Compensation provided under Article 14 of the Salvage Convention is confined, essentially, to the reimbursement of expenses.