Babcock Australasia has salvaged hundreds of critical military components from the Royal Australian Navy’s decommissioned HMAS Anzac frigate to support its sister ships’ operational capability.
The components have been reintegrated into military inventory to strengthen the readiness of the remaining Anzac-class ships, while also helping reduce costs by improving parts availability and shortening associated logistics timelines.
Among the reclaimed systems were the surface combatant’s vertical launch missile system, propulsion diesel engines, propellers, drive train components, and other combat and platform equipment.
The equipment will be used as needed to maintain the seven remaining Anzac vessels throughout their service lives. Some components have already been transferred to the frigates, helping them return to service more quickly after maintenance.
The six-month project was conducted under the Warship Asset Management Agreement (WAMA), which brings together industry partners, including BAE Systems and Saab, to maintain Australia’s maritime asset readiness and improve long-term fleet efficiency.
The work required roughly 30,000 hours and precise engineering to create safe access across multiple vessel levels for the removal of key components.
Experts from the Commonwealth, other WAMA collaborators, and original equipment manufacturers, such as Penske, IKAD, Allship Engineering, and Kongsberg, also joined in the recovery of components.
Following the completion of the retrieval operation, the retired frigate has been handed over to a disposal team.
‘Long-Term Advantages’
Commenting on the project’s success, Babcock Australasia Marine Program Delivery Director Carl Blacow said the WAMA initiative exceeded expectations, recovering more assets than expected.
“The WAMA alliance … delivers long-term operational advantages to Defence because some of these valuable items have long lead times to repair or procure,” he stated.
“We will now host a forum with Defence and our WAMA partners to capture lessons learned and look for further efficiencies which can be fed through to Babcock’s Regional Maintenance Provider-West team, for future work of this kind as Babcock becomes the sole sustainer of the Anzac-class vessels in the West.”
HMAS Anzac, the lead ship of the Anzac-class warships, served for nearly three decades, participating in regional patrols, multinational exercises, Persian Gulf sanctions enforcement, counter-piracy operations, and humanitarian missions across the Indo-Pacific.
The 118-meter (387-foot) ship was decommissioned in May 2024 at HMAS Stirling, becoming the first of its class to retire and marking the end of an era for the Anzac-class frigates.
