AWD Alliance staff (L-R) Carly Habils, CMDR Andrew Burnett, and CPO Neville Dobson view the Air Warfare Destroyer model at the AWD Systems Centre in Adelaide.
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Progress towards the construction of Australia’s HOBART Class Air Warfare Destroyers (AWDs) has ramped up recently, with Ultra Electronics being selected by the AWD Alliance as the preferred supplier of the ships’ sonar systems.
An integral part of the ships’ defences, the AWD sonar system includes a hull mounted sonar and a towed array, with active and passive components. The system will provide superior anti-submarine and torpedo defence capability for the ships and their crews.
Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said after the announcement that he was confident in the ability of the AWD Alliance to deliver the project on time and on budget.
“The selection of the sonar system is a key milestone for the AWD Alliance and represents the first of a series of equipment selections the team will make in the next few months,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.
In another significant milestone in the project’s advancement, the AWD Alliance will shortly be issuing Requests for Tender to selected companies for work on the ships’ hull blocks, as well as for supply of other elements of the ships’ combat systems.
The AWD Alliance comprises the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO), Raytheon Australia, and the Australian Submarine Corporation (ASC). The AWD Alliance sonar system tender evaluation team involved more than 50 people, and the task took five months. The team included people from the AWD Program Office in the DMO, Navy, DSTO, Raytheon Australia and ASC AWD Shipbuilder.
The sonar selection process was based on the principles the AWD Alliance applies to all its procurement activity: value for money, compliance with technical requirements, high ethical standards and probity, accountability and transparency, good faith and fair dealing. |
