After spending 15 years in the UK working on a range of warship and submarine projects, my family and I agreed that Australia was the place to be; a land of opportunity, space, decent climate and a relaxed lifestyle! We were lucky enough to be able to obtain permanent residency, and we migrated to Adelaide. Here I worked on the Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) design and build program for 6 years with ASC Shipbuilding (which was later purchased by BAE Systems Australia in 2018). I left the AWD program for another interesting opportunity, spending two years with the Adelaide Rail Electrification Project in design management and assurance.
In 2013 I took the big step of moving across the country from Adelaide to Cairns where I began working in Portsmith — a very different place to the UK’s Portsmouth where I started my career, although they both do have navy bases and shipyards. After spending a year as an engineering manager, mainly supporting in-service patrol boats, I joined BAE Systems Australia and the Hydrographic In-Service Support (HISS) project. As part of the HISS sustainment team, I provided technical and engineering support to maintain, update and upgrade the Royal Australian Navy’s Hydrographic fleet. One notable project involved the upgrade of Hydrographic survey systems and subsequent sonar testing over the wreck of the iron barque ‘Alcestis’ ship, which went on to win a 2018 BAE Systems Business Leaders Award. So not only have I gone from Portsmouth to Portsmith, but also from ultrasonic testing on one old sailing ship (HMS Victory) to testing echo-sounders over another (Alcestis).
My work with BAE Systems Australia on HISS provided a contrasting perspective to my work on the AWD. On the AWD project my work focused on design; understanding design decisions and any necessary constraints and dependencies. Conversely, on the HISS project my work focused on sustainment (maintenance, updates and upgrades). One significant challenge on HISS was that we did not have ready access to the knowledge of design decisions taken and the constraints applied to the design. Instead we resorted to ‘data archaeology’ to build up an understanding of historical context of the original design, to then facilitate successful repairs, updates and upgrades.
Over the years, I have continued to observe a lack of ready access to original design knowledge in Defence Maritime sustainment projects, both in Australia and back in the UK.
Of course, I’m not the only person to have noticed this. BAE Systems Australia is prioritising work to ensure design decisions can be captured and shared with future sustainment teams. Passing along this knowledge in a clear, logical way can save Defence industry and the Commonwealth of Australia (CoA) time and other resources throughout the life of each vessel. This supports creating the best outcomes for each ship and, most importantly, for all the personnel who work and sail on them.
In 2018, once BAE Systems Australia was awarded the contract to design and build the Hunter class frigates in Osborne, South Australia, I saw an opportunity to contribute my specialist systems architecture design knowledge and expertise, together with my first-hand understanding of sustainment needs.
I contributed for several years from behind the scenes while still actively on the HISS program, but in 2022 I had the opportunity to join the Hunter team full time, all while remaining based in Portsmith, Cairns – a dream role while still ‘living the dream’. Interestingly, it was the COVID-19 pandemic that demonstrated remote working is possible and can be highly effective. Of course I am also now able to travel regularly for face to face meetings and workshops with colleagues and the Commonwealth in Adelaide and Melbourne. The best of both worlds, and what is becoming the ‘new normal’, post pandemic.
Following my successful transition to the Hunter Class Frigate Program while remaining based in Cairns, BAE Systems Australia is building a Cairns Capability Hub. This means more people can continue to live in Cairns while working on major programs that are based in other states. This is a great outcome for the Cairns team as the HISS project winds down later this year; for BAE Systems in retaining the Cairns’ talent; and for the Commonwealth of Australia who ultimately benefit.