Independent Federation of Australia AU

[sebu]

Awesome!

[Thiel]

A minor quibble, the Dog-Dish antenna can't look straight up. I realise this isn't going to be an issue in most of its patrol area, but it's worth thinking about. I'd also enlarge the line handling hatches in the bow. They are rather on the small size as it stands.

[LEUT_East]

Independent Federation of Australia Coast Guard



Having 19,650 kilometres of coastline, Australia relies heavily on the Independent Federation of Australia Coast Guard (IFACG) force to defend its coast. It's duties include border protection, search and rescue, enforcement of maritime law, safety of vessels and support of Independent Federation of Australia Navy (IFAN) operations in the littoral theatre.

In addition, there are several private volunteer coast guard organizations, the two largest organizations being the Australian Volunteer Coastal Patrol (established in 1937) and the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard (established in 1961). These volunteer organizations have no law enforcement powers, and are essentially auxiliary Search and Rescue services.

The IFACG was originally the Patrol Boat Force Element Group (FEG) of the IFAN until transfer to the new portfolio in 1995. The National Headquarters is located in Canberra with the regional state bases being:

- IFACG Base Rockhampton, Queensland
- IFACG Base Weipa, Queensland
- IFACG Base Coffs Harbour, New South Wales
- IFACG Base Bega, New South Wales
- IFACG Base Port Melbourne, Victoria
- IFACG Base Hobart, Tasmania
- IFACG Base Port Adelaide, South Australia
- IFACG Base Geraldton, Western Australia
- IFACG Base Christmas Island
- IFACG Base Darwin, Northern Australia

IFACG Australian Aerospace Jetstream 31EZ aircraft carry out the bulk of aerial maritime surveillance but the aerial fleet also includes specialised fixed-wing patrol aircraft and helicopters undertaking electronic and visual surveillance of Australia's coastline and offshore maritime areas. All IFACG aircraft are based and maintained at Independent Federation of Australia Air Force (IFAAF) Depots.

[MihoshiK]

Allright, guidance radar critisisms: Your Rockhampton class. Why does it have the SPG-62 when it's also CEAFAR and CEAMOUNT equipped?

Likewise, your Castlemain class could do with (enlarged/trainable) versions of the CEAMOUNT instead of SPG-62. There's no reason to pick two completely different illumination systems for your air warfare ships, especially not on the same ship!

Yeh, that was in the back of my mind. The Rockhamptons and Castlemaines are being upgraded in the future and part of the upgrade will be the removal of the AN/SPG-62 mounts and the inclusion of CEAMOUNT units on the Castlemaine Class. The main reason I put the AN/SPG-62 mounts on the Rockhampton Class was as a redundancy measure. Looking back at that now, it maybe wasn't such a good idea.

Thanks for the feedback mate

Another remark: Why replace the aft MK-62 on your Brisbane with a MK-95? The MK-62 is considerably longer ranged, and can still guide the Sea Sparrow. With the firing rate of the MK13 GMLS, it would make more sense to retain the MK-62, since the ship is now a dedicated Air defense ship.

If anything, I'd expect the MK-95 to be replaced with a MK-62 during the conversion, because it would make the ship more capable against long range targets, providing two firing channels.

[acelanceloet]

on the shackleton, may I suggest using the better SMART-S Mk 2 drawing on the dutch parts sheet, as this one is oversized A LOT.

[erik_t]

Another remark: Why replace the aft MK-62 on your Brisbane with a MK-95? The MK-62 is considerably longer ranged, and can still guide the Sea Sparrow. With the firing rate of the MK13 GMLS, it would make more sense to retain the MK-62, since the ship is now a dedicated Air defense ship.

If anything, I'd expect the MK-95 to be replaced with a MK-62 during the conversion, because it would make the ship more capable against long range targets, providing two firing channels.

I would agree with this.

Regarding the mixed presence of CEAMOUNT and SPG-62, I suspect the latter has considerably longer range (since the aperture is so much larger). Perhaps CEAMOUNT is intended more for medium-range usage?

[Blackbuck]

As I understand it CEAMOUNT doesn't have the legs to fully exploit SM-2 with the current power/size of the arrays. That's not to say that couldn't be resolved. Perhaps as has been mentioned stand-alone (and larger) CEAMOUNT illuminators would be a better choice.

[erik_t]

That was my recollection. And that's... entirely justifiable, actually. I would strongly consider making that change.

I know one of Friedman's Naval Institute Guide to World Naval Weapon Systems shows a notional train-and-elevate large-panel CEAMOUNT. Two of these, to replace the SPG-62, seems eminently reasonable.

[LEUT_East]

Modified Macquarie Island Class

Based on the Macquarie Island Class of the IFAN these vessels are primarily used as command ships for Coast Guard OPVs and as a transport for asylum seekers (from people trafficking boats) by using embarked habitat modules (containers). They also able to conduct patrols of Australias southern sovereign waters from the foot of Tasmania down to Antarctica.

Two vessels have been constructed of which IFACGS Shackleton (pictured) is based at IFACGS Base Darwin, North Australia and IFACGS Wilkins is based at IFACGS Base Rockhampton, Queensland.

IFACGS Shackleton


Macquarie Island Class Specifications:
Type Multi Mission Support Vessel
Crew 58 Coast Guard personnel but can also embark other personnel depending on mission including 20 Department of Immigration personnel, 5 Customs personnel, 5 Federal Police and up to 40 Coast Guard Cadets.
Displacement 13,500 tons
Length 141.5 metres
Beam 21.5 metres
Draught 9 metres
Speed 17.5 knots
Air and Surface Search Radar Thales SMART S (Mk 2)
Navigation Radar Lowrance NR-1080i
Guns 2 x Typhoon-G 25mm, 2 x .50 cal
Helicopters 1 x MRH 90 Taipan or 1 x HH-60H Coasthawk
Containerised Mission Modules Fully Equipped Personnel Habitat Modules, Surveying Modules, Disaster Relief Modules, Navigation Aides Maintenance Modules and General Stores Modules.
Propulsion 2 x diesels, 10,728shp

[eswube]

That's growing to one of the most impressive among AU threads.