Why don’t the just put a 40mm bofors on the front of the OPV? What is the long wait for? The ships are in the water and being built. I’m not sure why this can’t be actioned. Why they are at it pop the NSM on the back and add a mistral 3 launcher up front. Then they can defend and deter all grey zone vessels. Before anyone suggests they aren’t combat vessels is a war broke out they would be upgunned in a heartbeat. Using the firepower doesn’t detract from patrolling it just adds the usual tasks of escort vessel.
Because it is just not that simple.
AFAIK the RAN has not had a 40 mm gun in service since the
Fremantle-class PB's were decommissioned and the gun and mountings fitted were similar to ones used back in WWII or Korea, manually operated, etc. This means that a new gun would need to be selected and acquired, as well as an appropriate mounting. Work would need to be done to ensure that the mounting could be fitted to an appropriate site aboard the OPV, and that the structure was appropriate for the gun/mounting to operate and be fired. There would also need to be some work done to integrate whatever was selected into the shipboard CMS and electronics, esp. if the gun was to be operated remotely and/or be useful across a broader scope of roles like CUAS, CIWS, etc.
All of that requires not only money, but also time. Given how much more effective (not really) it would make the
Arafura-class in a warfighting role, I would much rather see more resources like funding as well as technical expertise be allocated to bring the
Hunter-class frigates into service as well as SEA 3000.
As for fitting Mistral 3... <le sigh>
Mistral 3 is not currently in Australian service and TBH it might never be. AFAIK there have been some MOU's signed to examine domestic production of Mistral 3, but no contracts signed for Australia to actually purchase any at this point. Before missiles could be usefully employed from the OPV's, there would need to be integration work done to tie the missiles, launcher and ship sensors together. There would also be the matter of where a Mistral 3 missile launcher could be fitted. The best answer I have been able to come up with would be if Australia adopted a dual gun/missile mounting Again, all of this would require both funding and time.
As for fitting NSM, again there is the question of where one would put it? There are places it could be fitted (like on the helipad) but doing so would likely compromise or perhaps even outright eliminate some of the OPV's planned capabilities. Issues of costs and time needed would also need to be addressed, including things like the per missile cost of Mistral 3 being ~USD$500k
Much of this could likely be done, but I would then have to ask, "why?"
