INTRODUCTION

A Navy ship is a National Defense Security Investment.  It is always out of sight to those who truly understand operation and maintenance. It is a hidden cost in the Integrated Logistics Support System (ILSS) and midlife refit.

It is now time to start caring, saving money, and extending the useful life of a naval surface vessel and are dependent on the proper utilization and response on the integrated logistics support system (ILSS)  and midlife refit which define the life cycle cost of a naval surface vessel.

STARTING RIGHT THE FIRST TIME IN NAVAL SURFACE SHIP ACQUISITION PROGRAM

The most important aspects in Naval Surface Ship Acquisition are enumerated and defined in the following sequence:

• War Fighting Doctrine – is the primary document in the identification of threat – how to neutralize by what weapons. Without doctrine, a Navy combatant is as good as anyone not knowing how to survive a hostile threat.
• Naval Staff Requirement – are the requirements and statements that lead in shaping the ship design desired by the Naval Staff such as personnel, intelligence, operation, through Logistics Support Sustainment, plans and future projections, etc., of a Frigate.
• Circular of Requirements (COR) – is defined by the Navy Technical Working Group (TWG) as the manner by which the Naval Staff Requirements provides an outline information guide to the Naval Architect, weapons engineer, logistics, etc. on:
  • Seaworthiness
  • Survivability
  • Offensive and defensive capability
  • Habitability
  • Operability
  • Maintainability
  • Reliability
  • Firefighting
  • Navigational safety
  • Signature management control
  • Early warning signs
  • Others

• Technical Specification – the inclusive responsibility of the ship designer / shipyard based on the circular of requirement about how material factors can be achieved by the Frigate in his role, task, mission, and capabilities.

Without the aforementioned factors, the Navy is embarking on a guessing game, a hit-or-miss approach in Frigate acquisition, not knowing the Frigate’s future projection in its service to the Navy Fleet. Acquiring a Frigate without matching the threat and ensuring a high probability of success is a waste of Government funds, resources, and taxpayer’s money. It is a costly mistake.

LIFE CYCLE ELEMENTS OF A FRIGATE

This is defined as the totality of how the Frigate will be sustained by the Navy throughout the serviceable life span in the Navy, with corresponding prohibitive expenditures compared with the meager fund resources of the Government.

• Administrative – are all expenses covering salaries, sea duty pay, shore power service, tug boat assistance, conferences, joint naval exercises, office supplies, etc.;
• Ship Operations – include but not limited to fuel and lube oil, victualling provisions, ordnance and ammunition, shore, etc. required to sustain ship operations; and
• Level of Maintenance – there are three levels of maintenance of ship.
  • Level I – Ship crew conducting the preventive maintenance in order to ensure preservation of the ship system and sub-systems operation to preserve ship functionality to sustain operation.
  • Level II – Ship requires outside assistance in conducting preventive maintenance to sustain operational availability;
  • Level III – Ship repair requires drydocking, major overhaul, etc. to restore the operational readiness and operative availability back to the original capability; and
• Others such as accidental unforeseen events.

MIDLIFE REFIT. Midlife refit is a life extension and Fleet Rehabilitation And Modernization (FRAM), updating and improving the capability of the Naval Vessel responsive to the modern dynamic technology.  This involves replacement of sensors to a more agile system propulsion power source, hull replating, and underwater appendages, among others.

EXPENDITURES. There are three levels of expenditures in ship acquisition, operation, and maintenance.  These are:

• Acquisition Cost of the Frigate which is the tip of the ice berg normally in the range of 15%-20% of the total life cycle cost;
• Operation and Maintenance Cost – is the submerged portion of the iceberg which is estimated in the range of 20% to 60% of the total life cycle cost;
• Midlife Refit – is a life extension through the Frigate retrofit responsive to the current need of the Fleet in the estimated range between 60% to 80%;
• Disposal Value – is the scrap value of the Frigate from the fleet moth ball or reserve estimated range between 10% to 20%; and
• Others.

OBSERVATIONS. The role of the Frigate is to provide naval defense, sovereignty patrol, participate in naval exercises to hone the skill and capability in warfighting at sea, which is the sole core competence of a Navy.

The frigate must never be involved in Maritime Protection role and enforcement so as not to duplicate the function of the Coast Guard and prevent duplication of Government budget resources.

RECOMMENDATION. The sequence in naval surface ship acquisition must be implemented without any great deviation from the Doctrine and Circular of Requirement to achieve best buy and cost of money to match the expected performance, and eliminating unnecessary equipment acquisition that will later on become a white elephant.

The Navy must not duplicate functions of the Coast Guard and should only focus on the core competence of a Navy in warfighting at sea capability in order to eliminate extra cost. 

About the Author

CAPT TOMAS D BAINO is a registered naval architect and civil engineer in the Professional Regulation Commission in the Philippines.  He was the former Commanding Officer of the Naval Shipyard, Philippine Navy and was involved in co-production of the 78 Foot Gunboat with Halter Marine Shipyard of USA and Patrol Craft Escort Refit Program of the Philippine Navy and Joint United States Military Advisory Group.

Upon his retirement from the NAVY in 2004, he served as consultant with BFAR for the acquisition of Fishery Monitoring Control Vessel from Spain and also with DOTr for the acquisition of 12 Multi-Role Response Vessel for the PCG under JICA Loan Grant.  He served also with Development Bank of the Philippines Maritime Leasing Corporation in 2006 for local construction of RORO Vessel.

He earned a post graduate diploma in Naval Architecture at the University College of London specializing in Submarine Design under the sponsorship of UK Ministry of Defense and training in Hydrodynamic with Defense Evaluation Research Agency also in UK.  He has also undergone an orientation seminar with Blomh and Voss in MEKO Warship Design and Construction in Hamburg, Germany.

Main Reference

1. Janes at https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/pns-second-and-final-jose-rizal-class-frigate-arrives-in-philippines