Developing Australia's indigenous marine vehicle manoeuvring analysis and evaluation capability

The manoeuvrability and control of marine vehicles, whether commercial or naval platforms, is critical to their safe, efficient and effective operation. It is a regulatory requirement of the International Maritime Organization that specific craft meet prescribed manoeuvring performance criteria to mitigate the risk of collision and catastrophic failure. In-harbour operational efficiency in the marine transport sector is a significant financial driver, while Naval war-fighting doctrine demand that surface combatants can out-manoeuvre and out- perform the myriad of present day and future threats to enable them to maintain their dominance as a naval deterrent.

This poses the question: are we as a nation in a position to assess and understand the manoeuvring performance of marine vehicles to the level required by the statutory, commercial and defence stakeholders? If not, then what would it take to bridge that capability gap and is an investment into the development of an indigenous capability the best solution?

To date, science and industry have developed methods to analyse and evaluate the manoeuvring and control characteristics of marine vehicles. These range from physical experimentation to systems identification and more recently, advanced numerical simulation. The abilities and limitations of these methods are generally well understood such that they can be appropriately implemented.

In this paper, systems thinking is utilised to explore the complex issue of how to develop an indigenous marine vehicle manoeuvring analysis and evaluation capability. The strategic and technical aspects surrounding this capability, along with some of the risks involved, are assessed and discussed. Concept solutions to fulfil the capability’s requirements are proposed with the aim to provide the best outcome based on the needs of the maritime industry and its customers.