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BAE Systems: Australian Hunters are ‘progressing very well’

25th May 2022 - 10:00 GMT | by Gordon Arthur in Christchurch

RSS

The Hunter class will be an extremely capable warship, but few major Australian procurement projects start smoothly. (RAN)

Flurries of criticism about Australia's future frigates have been growing in intensity, but BAE Systems has come out of its corner to counter the narrative.

Australia’s ongoing programme to build nine Hunter-class frigates has routinely come in for criticism in Australian media reports. Some of the blame surely lies at the door of the Department of Defence because of a recent short-sighted policy deflecting media enquiries.

Consequently, conjecture about the viability of the Hunter-class programme has been rife. This included a leaked 36-page Engineering Team Assessment prepared by the DoD last November.

At the same time, accusations from the then shadow minister for defence claimed Project Sea 5000 was already running A$15 billion [$10.8 billion] over budget and four years late.

Another knife in

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