The BAE Systems Type 26 Global Combat Ships are an unproven force. The first British-owned example is yet to take to the water.

But the design will form the basis of Australia’s next generation anti-submarine frigate, dubbed the Hunter class.

The outlay is enormous. At more than $35 billion, the Royal Australian Navy will want to get as much bang for its buck as possible.

And these ships will likely be launched into an uncertain world.

A new arms race is unfolding in Asia. And Australia is not exempt.

Two large modern helicopter assault ships — HMAS Canberra and Adelaide — are already in commission. And the first of three new air warfare destroyers has been delivered.

Some $50 billion has been earmarked for the construction of up to 12 French Shortfin Barracuda submarines. And $6 billion has been set aside for six large unmanned MQ-4C Triton surveillance drones.

Now, a fleet of nine new frigates — chosen under the SEA 5000 Future Frigate program — is on the way.

“The decision may also say much about the Australian government’s strategic calculations as well as the trend … of moving back towards more high-end capabilities in the face of renewed state-on-state competition, the proliferation of advanced weaponry and growing maritime challenges, particularly in anti-submarine warfare,” writes IISSS Senior Fellow for Naval Forces and Maritime Security, Nick Childs.

China’s expansionist claims to the South and East China Seas have become all but inevitable.

Beijing’s eyes are already lifting to its next stated goal — the ‘Second Island Chain’. Ominously, this includes Japan, the US naval base of Guam, Taiwan, The Philippines and parts of Indonesia.

So what are the capabilities of these ships?

What role are they expected to play?

And will they be able to respond to the rapid pace of strategic and technological change?

HIGH THREAT ENVIRONMENT

At a meeting with US Defence Secretary James Mattis last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping asserted he would not give up ‘one inch’ of territory ‘inherited from our forefathers’.

The problem is, the populations of Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, The Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam believe the same thing: that they have a time-honoured right to access the resources of the East and South China Seas.

An international court ruled that China’s claim to historical rights over the seas was ‘baseless’.

Australia supports the rule of international law.

China, however, finds it inconvenient.

Which is one reason why its relations with Australia are souring.

The Australian Senate last week passed the Espionage and Foreign Interference Bill — a set of laws overhauling security and foreign interference legislation.

The move does not come out of a void.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull cited “disturbing reports about Chinese influence” last year.

He was referring to China’s political manoeuvrers in and around Australia. Ongoing revelations about its leverage on our politicians, businessmen and lobbyists mirror Beijing’s moves in neighbouring nations, such as Vanuatu and the Maldives.

Of most significant concern is Beijing’s reputation for setting ‘debt traps’: enticing smaller nations with infrastructure loans that they cannot repay. These assets must then be handed over to China upon default.

This has already happened: Sri Lanka last year signed a century-long lease to China for one of its strategic ports which allow People’s Liberation Army Navy vessels wide range over the Indian Ocean.

Strategic analysts warn that moves by China to fund military-grade ports in Vanuatu and the Maldives threaten to cut Australia’s supply lines through the Pacific and Indian Oceans in the event of conflict.

That’s a threat Australia hasn’t faced since the darkest days of 1942, in the midst of World War II.

Also behind the ongoing diplomatic manoeuvres is the rapid development of new and deadly weapons.

China is already regarded as the world leader in next-generation hypervelocity missiles. These are so fast they can appear and destroy their target in the blink of an eye — far quicker than any human reaction can counter. Beijing is also on the brink of putting railguns on warships with the capability of firing guided hypersonic shells immense distances.

Then there’s its stealth technology. China’s new J-20 stealth fighter was deployed for the first time last year. Work is reportedly well underway building a new fleet of long-range stealth bombers.

Will Australia’s new Type 26 frigates be up to such a challenge?

Do they have enough built-in capacity to accommodate, say, a new generation of power-hungry lasers capable of destroying incoming hypervelocity missiles in a flash?

Will they even be able to sense such a threat?

WHAT’S OLD IS NEW AGAIN

The term ‘frigate’ is an old one. In the days of sail, they were small but fast vessels optimised to patrol the vast British empire.

But since World War II, the term has been applied to relatively small warships optimised for anti-submarine and escort warfare.

It’s a job that fell out of popularity with the end of the Cold War in the 1990s. But growing Russian and Chinese belligerence has seen old fears rise again.

One well placed submarine can bring an entire economy to its knees.

And both nations are racing to expand and modernise their fleets.

Australia’s recent Defence White Paper predicts China’s navy will have a fleet of more than 70 submarines by 2020. And that will be in a context where “within the broader Indo-Pacific region, in the next two decades, half of the world’s submarines will be operating in the region …

“Within the same period, at least half of the world’s advanced combat aircraft, armed with extended range missiles and supported by highly sophisticated information networks, will be operated by Indo-Pacific countries.”

It all comes back to China’s intransigence over the South and East China seas — and Taiwan.

As island nations, Britain and Australia have largely maintained their anti-submarine capabilities where others (including the United States) have let them fall by the wayside.

Britain’s older Type 23 frigate is viewed as the most capable anti-submarine ship in the world. It’s hoped experience with this design will produce something extra special in its successor, the Type 26.

“By common consent, the BAE design was the most advanced and capable of the three final contenders in the frigate competition,” Mr Childs says. “BAE Systems’ triumph over its rivals suggests that capability priorities were in the end critical in the Australian government’s choice. The perception of an increasingly contested and challenging maritime arena, especially with the proliferation of modern submarines, placed a premium in Canberra’s eyes on investing in high-end capabilities.”

They will replace Australia’s existing Anzac class frigates which have been operating since the mid-1990s.

But they’ll be expected to do much more.

Not only will they be specialist submarine killers, but the Hunter-class design will enable them to work in concert with the Royal Australian Navy’s new air warfare destroyers. They’ll also come with a cargo bay capable of carrying landing craft, shipping containers or modular mission-specific equipment.

“The Type 26 has the best capability to equip the Navy in anti-submarine warfare, with range and endurance, are able to operate independently or as part of a task group, and to contribute as well in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,” Defence Minister Marise Payne says.

THE HUNTER

Australia will be buying a variant of the British Type 26 frigate, optimised for local conditions and needs.

“The new Australian ships will differ significantly from the RN’s Type-26s, with a US combat system fitted and mainly US weapons used,” Mr Clark says. “But there will still be commonality, particularly in terms of ASW capability, that will assist in interoperability with the UK.”

At some 149 metres in length, the Hunter class doesn’t suit the ‘small’ part of a frigate’s definition. That’s as big as Australia’s Hobart-class specialist air-warfare destroyers.

But it’s a very different ship.

Where destroyers need to be fast and nimble, frigates must be quiet.

They’re hunting submarines.

And it’s a deadly game where the hunter is often being hunted.

It’s all intended to carry the complex network of computers, guns, missiles, radars, sonars — and an MH60 helicopter — into harm’s way.

That includes its 180-strong crew.

The BAE Systems warship is wrapped around two electric motors and a gas turbine. They’re designed to propel the 8800-tonne vessel through the water at 27 nautical miles per hour (knots). Idling along at 15 knots, the Type 26 is believed to have a range of about 11,000km — or an endurance of 60 days.

Just as submarines seek invisibility through silence, so do frigates. They must coast quietly along the surface, enabling the ‘ears’ of its sonar arrays to pick up — and isolate — the mildest mechanical noise coming from below.

Then they must sneak within range to launch their torpedoes — or direct a helicopter to drop a similar weapon from above.

To achieve this, great care — and expense — must be sunk into the frigate’s hull design and construction. Heavy machinery must sit on ‘dampers’ — essentially large rubber blocks that prevent vibrations from transferring into the hull.

Noise insulation must be packed throughout the hull.

And, like the submarines they are chasing, the Type 26 ships can turn off their noisy engines and creep about on near-silent battery-power.

The frigates’ primary weapon will be its Type 2087 towed-array sonar. This sensor pod is unwound from the stern of the ship to allow its listening devices to be lowered. This negates the ability of submarines to hide among the sound-distorting layers of water at different depths. There’s a second S2150 hull-mounted sonar as a backup.

Once located, hostile submarines can be attacked by a helicopter-dropped torpedo. In Australian service, this is likely to be the MH60 Romeo Seahawk helicopter.

AIR DEFENCE

The British Type 26 is being built with a Type 997 Artisan 3D search radar. This combines with its European-developed vertically-launched Sea Ceptor CAMM (common anti-air modular missile) to counter threats from the air.

Here Australia’s Hunter class will differ.

It’s previously been announced the Royal Australian Navy requires the installation of US-built RIM-66 Standard SM-2 missile and its vertical launchers. This will be paired through an Aegis combat computer network with a CEAFAR2 S/X/L band active phased- array radar under development by Canberra-based CEA.

The long-range SM-2 missile, working in conjunction with the RAN’s Hobart-class air warfare destroyers, will be able to help defend a task group out to 160km.

And, as Australia is purchasing only three of the Hobart class destroyers, chances are the navy will be forced to operate outside their air defence umbrella. Therefore, the new frigate must be able to defend itself — and other vulnerable vessels such as the Canberra Landing Helicopter Dock ships.

The missile system will be backed up by a 5 inch Mark 45 main gun on the bow, two smaller 30mm autocannons, and a variety of machine guns. Containers positioned on either side of the ship carry four advanced anti-ship missiles, giving the frigate some ability to engage surface targets beyond that of its 5-inch gun.

One Phalanx on close-in weapons systems (CIWS) are fitted on each side of the frigate as a last-gasp defence against incoming missiles and aircraft, if the Nulka Decoy System fails to distract them.

MULTI-MISSION

Australia’s Hunter class, like the British Type 26 City class it is based on, has a degree of modularity built into its design.

It’s something its designers at BAE Systems are proud of.

“A key feature is the ship’s flexible mission space, which can accommodate up to four 12 metre sea boats, a range of manned and unmanned air, surface or underwater vehicles or up to 11 20ft containers or ‘capability modules’, and the most advanced sensors available to the fleet,” it says in a statement.

Essentially put, switch around a few components of its amidships cargo bay and you have a pirate-hunter to patrol the troubled waters of North Africa and Indonesia.

Fill the space with rigid-hulled inflatable boats and the frigate is ready to deploy specialist troops. And there’s no need to string up hammocks: there are 28 extra bunks on board.

Replace these with standard shipping containers, and you have emergency supplies to supplement the disaster relief capabilities of Australia’s LHD carriers.

And mobile, modular compartments can be accommodated to provide additional capabilities, such as drone operation, mine-warfare and command-and-control — among others.

The Type 26 also has an unusually large stern helicopter deck. This can hold an enormous twin-rotor Chinook troop transport.

While this monster won’t be able to fit in the frigate’s hangar, one of Australia’s MH60 Seahawk anti-submarine helicopters will. Reportedly, the ship can also carry and operate several unmanned drone helicopters.

DELIVERANCE

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says the project will form a “truly sovereign national Australian shipbuilding industry” while ensuring the country’s security.

But Mr Clark says there is irony in the Type 26’s choice.

“It was meant to be exportable, but the consensus was that it had become too big, sophisticated and expensive to achieve success,” he says. “But the change in the strategic maritime focus has breathed new life into high-end requirements.”

BAE Systems is set to embrace Australia’s ASC as a subsidiary and take over its shipbuilding facilities at Port Adelaide’s Osborne plant. But, once production is complete, the ASC will revert to Commonwealth Government control.

Ship construction is set to begin in 2020.

The first ships are expected to enter service almost 10 years later.

The Royal Navy has two of the Type 26 ships under construction. They have an order placed for another six.

Australia’s proposed fleet of nine vessels will be the most massive peacetime warship building project in Australian history. It is designed to give the nation a standalone, ongoing warship building capability.

The Hunter class will be built using Australian steel, and all technology transferred via BAE Systems will remain in Australian government hands.

The skills transfer process has already begun, with Flinders University saying it had signed a research and development memorandum of understanding with BAE Systems Australia to help prepare a shipbuilding workforce.

“(We) will have access to BAE Systems’ digital shipbuilding tools, processes and methodologies and turn these into development programs to train the people who will build the Future Frigates and integrate the ships’ complex operating systems,” a Flinders University statement reads.