The Royal Australian Navy launched its new Horizon Three ship sustainment model at the recent Sea Power 2022 conference.

Horizon Three was born out of Navy’s Plan Galileo, and is designed to increase ship availability through a greater recognition of sustainment as a key enabling capability, and the establishment of national supply chains and closer industry partnerships.

“Sustainment is a key enabling capability because, without it, other capabilities will fail,” CASG’s head Maritime Systems, RADM Wendy Malcolm said in a speech to the conference. “Sustainment can have far-reaching implications. And for Defence, right now, sustainment as an enabling capability means delivering it wherever and whenever it is needed.”

RADM Malcolm also outlined plans for the establishment of Regional Maintenance Centre (RMC) National which will act as an ‘intelligent centre’ for the regional maintenance centres around the country.

“The establishment of the RMC network is well in train, with our first RMC now operational in Cairns and our first regional maintenance provider, NORSTA Maritime, already well-integrated with our Defence people in the region,” she said. “I am pleased to introduce the RMC National construct – a light-touch Commonwealth organisation that will drive standardisation, coordination, and efficiency across the RMC network.

“It will act like an intelligence centre by capturing and analysing performance and other related data to identify efficiencies and opportunities for improvement, and it will also coordinate and control the growth and evolution of each RMC.”