22 November 2023
An enduring sustainment capability is under development to ensure Navy’s current fleet, and the fleet of 2035, is materially ready, capable and lethal.
The Defence Strategic Review highlighted the criticality of optimising Navy to operate in Australia’s immediate region – to maintain the security of sea lines of communication and maritime trade.
An increased lethality of the surface fleet and the ability to work seamlessly with other domains, as well as partner nations to deliver joint operations, is part of this optimisation.
Head Maritime Sustainment Rear Admiral Steve Tiffen spoke at the recent Indo-Pacific 2023 International Maritime Exposition about how the Maritime Sustainment Division (MSD) is delivering material lethality with appropriate seriousness and urgency.
“We are evolving how we conduct business, to provide intelligent, responsive and flexible sustainment,” Rear Admiral Tiffen said.
“We are pursuing several key initiatives in support of this, all under the umbrella of a strategy for the division, and an implementation plan to deliver it.
“The strategy will address government direction and five strategic drivers that I see the division facing. This includes of course the deteriorating strategic environment, but also the increasingly scarce resources, challenged supply chain resilience, the growth of costs outstripping supply and competition for an effective workforce.
“MSD is shifting its mindset and we are transforming from a product-specific approach to sustainment, to one that is fleet-wide, flexible, responsive and focuses on the generation of military effects.”
MSD will provide productive, agile and responsive delivery of sustainment to meet customers’ needs at all levels of demand, as well as a resilient, innovating and sovereign industry base to support the current and future fleet.
“We are evolving how we conduct business, to provide intelligent, responsive and flexible sustainment,”
“Through initiatives such as adjusting our governance boards, aligning our systems program offices with Navy capability programs, better performance metrics on fleet readiness and a more flexible resource allocation, we’ll generate several benefits for Navy and our customers,” Rear Admiral Tiffen said.
“We’ll be able to conduct longer term strategic planning using improved data and the management of trade-offs across surface ship sustainment will be significantly improved.
“For industry – a fundamental input to capability – we want to enter into longer-term relationships as partners, provide a much longer-term, stable demand signal and continue to remove unnecessary barriers to entry. In developing our Divisional Strategy, we are looking to build trust and optimise contract outcomes.
“We also want to work more closely with our industry partners to develop long-term, suitably qualified and experienced personnel, and this may entail high levels of workforce integration to provide the skills and experiences needed.”
Once the strategy is finalised, it will be implemented over the next 12 months. Implementation will be flexible to adjust based on the outcomes of the Surface Fleet Review, the 2024 National Defence Strategy and other government-directed changes.
“The development of an enduring sovereign sustainment capability will be a decades-long endeavour, but right now I am confident we have the roadmap to get there,” Rear Admiral Tiffen said.
