Bang Rachan Class Minehunter mission system upgrades: lessons learnt

The Royal Thai Navy Bang Rachan Class Minehunters have been upgraded within a 3 year programme to provide a 15 year life extension with works performed in Royal Thai Navy Dockyard in Phra Chulachomklao, Bangkok. The life extension of the platforms includes: replacement Mission System, upgraded Machinery control and automation for the main engine together with generator overhauls and a new electrical distribution system. Extensive hull and deck repairs on the 1980’s Lürssen built wooden hull minehunters was an essential activity to ensure success to the life extension. The mission system replacement provides new suit of; sonar, command & control system, autopilot, radar and communications (internal and external). In addition to the platform works, a new signature range was supplied to allow acoustic and magnetic ranging pre and post upgrade, to ensure signature compliance. Lessons learnt on the programme broadly fall into 2 categories, those pre-contract in the bidding and negotiation phase and those during the execution of the contract. A taut bid timeline denied the ability to fully identify the required specifications and boundaries of the task associated with the platform. This early lack of clarity cascaded through the project.
The key lessons learnt during the programme execution were:
- Ensuring clear communications across language barriers between all parties
- Defining exact supplier specifications and supply chain timescales and ensuring the supplier understood andaccepted these
- Accessing appropriate levels of skilled personnel for the technically demanding aspects of the programme
- Managing and planning for emergent work caused by the aging nature of the platforms, particularly theirwooden construction.
Some of the methods used to counter and solve issues encountered were:
- Open communication particularly when problems arise, early flagging of issues usually means they can befixed before they develop
- Ensuring well understood and accepted scope of works providing known boundaries and interfaces (both withcompanies and equipment)
- Ongoing use of ‘plan on a page’ to provide communication up and down the supply chain, and internally,allowing everyone to understand the current status, short term plans, and their delivered value to theprogramme
- Close scrutiny of suppliers:– key to understanding bought in equipment / services, maturity, and wherenecessary embedding Thales staff where challenges were being encountered
- Rigorous integration and test strategy for acceptance prior to delivery, and then adoption of an incrementalacceptance strategy with the customer before final handover
- Introduction of suitably qualified and experience personnel and appropriate in country training
- Adopting an approach of “spend to save” early in the programme – something that proved to be far cheaperand quicker to realise costs early solving issues before they became major problems later in the project
- Continual consideration of signatures (acoustic, magnetic, electromagnetic) and the impact of any tasks ordecisions on these.