Type 26 Global Combat Ship

Seeing as it's turned out, amid yesterday's shipbuilding announcements, that one of the three remaining contenders to construct the Future frigates in Adelaide is the one I wrote about in the Adelaide Advertiser's letters page (on Halloween) 18 months ago, I've thought to republish what was printed then.  Given that it's the one with its photo in this morning's Australian, you could guess it's chances are still high..

IF the future frigates are to be built in Adelaide, and the ship chosen is the Type 26 Combat Ship, a new era in naval co-operation could begin.

The UK Navy are building 13 of these ships, with BAE doing much of the design work and Raytheon developing the navigation and bridge systems.

Both of these defence giants are at Osbourne. If BAE purchases the ASC it would make more sense for it to be building the same project here as in other parts of the world.

The true sweetener is that if (like the UK) we intend to keep the Type 26 in service till 2060, future decades might well see other such warships than just the Australian Navy’s chugging up the Port River for refurbishment.

As mentioned, that was published on Oct 31, 2014.  Let's skip now to a story on Shipping and Marine Events a couple of weeks ago 

The UK Ministry of Defence has awarded BAE Systems a £472 million contract to progress the Type 26 Global Combat Ship programme following the UK Government’s commitment in the Strategic Defence and Security Review to buy eight of the advanced anti-submarine warfare ships.

I'm beginning to wonder, now, who's paying for whose boats... at any rate, the result is that between the fleets of both countries there'll be considerable Joint Flotilla whose units could stay in the Southern Ocean for 60 days before returning to Adelaide for a refill of the gas that drives their turbines- at the Osborne Oil and Gas Hub.  

With such a close-proximity fuel supply unavailable to an enemy, the West may have quiet quickly established a strong naval Antarctic Shield against Them.

I'm guessing that the British are planning for their version of the boat to roam far and wide.  A good clue is the motivationally Game Of Thrones sound track to the BAE promotional video. 

Why do I get the feeling that Antarctica may well be our World's future Westeros?