AVM Phillips made the comments during the 21st annual Australian Defence Magazine Congress, held in Canberra, to an audience of defence industry figures as he sought to update them on what progress the GWEO Enterprise has made so far under his watch.
“The first batch of modern sea mines have been received and have been used in maritime training by our Navy.”
– AVM Leon Phillips, Chief of Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance
Australia is acquiring an undisclosed number of an undisclosed type of smart sea mine from RWM Italia as part of Project SEA 2000 Maritime Mining. Project Sea 2000 undertook industry consultation throughout 2021 and 2022 before ultimately selecting an unspecified RWM Italia product in mid-2023.
While Australia has not released details about what platforms will deploy the weapons, Naval News understands that Defence is aiming to field them aboard both crewed and uncrewed surface, airborne and sub-surface platforms.
The previous Liberal-National government committed to purchasing the weapons as part of its 2020 Defence Force Structure Plan, a plan that the current Labor government has roundly-criticised due to it announcing a range of acquisition programs without allocating money to fund them.
As a result of this funding gap, which Labor claims was in excess of $60 billion AUD when they came to government in 2022, the government has been undertaking a comprehensive reorganisation and re-prioritisation of Defence’s Integrated Investment Plan (IIP). The IIP, the first of which was introduced in 2016, is effectively a costed breakdown of all planned defence acquisitions over the next decade.
The reorganisation of the IIP, which is being led by the Vice Chief of the Defence Force, Vice Admiral David Johnson is nearly complete with an updated version expected to be approved alongside Australia’s national budget in May.
Unlike Australia’s last attempt at acquiring sea mines, which was canned in the early 2000s, Project SEA 2000 appears to have survived budget challenges.
In 2000 Australia selected BAE System’s Stonefish MK III Naval Influence Mine as part of Project JP 2045 Phase 1A, however, it was shortly cancelled with only around 20 training mines reportedly ever delivered.
Work Underway to Localize Smart Sea Mine Sustainment
AVM Phillip’s organisation, GWEO, was also stood up as a result of the 2020 Defence Force Structure Plan, however, he was appointed its inaugural head in the wake of the 2023 Defence Strategic Review (DSR).
According to AVM Phillips, the GWEO Enterprise has been charged by the government with developing the capacity for Australia to build selected advanced weapons domestically, building up war stocks including Sea Mines, and acquiring long-range strike weapons.
The GWEO Enterprise is also standing up an ability to maintain the new sea mines in Australia through technology transfer, with the longer term goal of enabling the local electronics servicing, loading, assembling and packing of sea mines in Australia.
While details are scarce about this effort to localize the sustainment enterprise, Naval News understands that the small Australian company Enginium Pty Ltd has helped establish an explosive materials branch within the SEA 2000 project team.
Our interview with RWM Italia at Indo Pacific 2023:
