Artigo muito interessante e revelador que nem as MdG mais pequenas não se resumem aos poucos Navios que possuem mas sim aos poucos MAS bons Navios que possuem. Comparativamente ao volume de Euros que vamos alocar á modernização da nossa MdG comparem com o investimento que os Neo Zelandeses vão efectuar, na sua MdG, até 2030, pelo menos cinco vezes mais que por cá :
MATCHING CAPABILITY TO NEW ZEALAND’S NEEDS
When you’ve got a big list of government priorities ahead of you and a
$19.7 billion investment in defence capability to 2030, it
is definitely not a case of “business as usual” for the Royal New Zealand Navy.
Commander Murray Tuffin, Maritime Lead, Capability Branch, was speaking at the “Building the Future
Navy” conference for Navy League Wellington, hosted at TS AMOKURA.
His topic, New Ships for the RNZN, ran through the new capabilities the Navy expected to achieve. “I get to talk about the cool stuff,” he told the audience. “Our goal is to achieve the right military capability at the right time for the right price and to the right specification, thereby becoming an international exemplar of defence capability management.”
He described the Frigate Systems Upgrade (FSU) for HMNZS TE KAHA and TE MANA as a lift in relative capability against
contemporary threats. “But it’s not just about equipment on frigates. We have already installed the combat system trainer,
which is currently training the next generation of sailors for this capability. Our people will be ahead of the game.” The upgrade will
start with one frigate next year, in Canada, followed by the second frigate in 2019.
Fleet tanker HMNZS AOTEAROA, the Navy’s largest-ever ship, is a good example of multiple requirements from Government and
its impact on naval capability, and also highlights the “price of ice”, said CDR Tuffin. “This ship puts the money where the policy is.
It’s not just an ENDEAVOUR replacement. It’s an enhanced naval tanker, with capability never seen before.” AOTEAROA will be
capable of operating safely to McMurdo Sound, with solid and liquid replenishment, supporting Antarctic scientific operations as well as New Zealand’s presence in Antarctic waters, as emphasised in the 2016 Defence White Paper. AOTEAROA is expected in New Zealand in 2020.
CDR Tuffin emphasised the “Ocean” in the proposed icestrengthened Ocean Patrol Vessel, distinguishing it from the Navy’s
two OTAGO-class Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) OTAGO and WELLINGTON. “The OTAGO-class has been used very successfully,
but when we created them the Polar Code wasn’t there. So we’re going to build in those requirements, and take what we’ve learnt
from operating the OTAGO-class, to step up our contribution in the southern ocean.”
The $320m vessel, specified in the 2016 Defence White Paper, will also add to New Zealand’s work in contributing to government policy in the Pacific. It is “realistically” expected to be operating by 2023.
The Littoral Operations Support Capability project (LOSC), a proposed replacement vessel for HMNZS MANAWANUI and the
decommissioned RESOLUTION, went to tender last year but scope of works is to be revisited. In response to a question from the audience, CDR Tuffin said the four Inshore Patrol Vessels would be disposed of before the end of their life. “At the moment, they contribute significantly to training.
They play a role in stewarding our Navy, not just for the junior rates, but for people developing their leadership. So we need to work
through carefully with other agencies about what is the right time to part with them.”
http://navy.mil.nz/downloads/pdf/navy-today/nt215.pdfAbraços