DSTO labs set to impact well on Navy

The Chief of Navy, VADM Chris Ritchie, recently opened two new DSTO laboratory buildings at Edinburgh, which were purposely built at a cost of more than $2.5 million.

The Maritime Experimentation Laboratory (MEL) and Torpedo Systems Centre (TSC) will assist in developing sophisticated new technologies in support of Navy research programs.

Speaking to a distinguished audience of Defence, defence industry, DSTO staff and media representatives, VADM Ritchie emphasised the important contribution that the new facilities would make to DSTO’s input to the Navy Innovation Strategy and in support of capability development.

In his speech “delivering the new facilities to Navy”, DSTO’s Corporate Leader Maritime, DSSL Nanda Nandagopal said that the MEL had been built to host a range of network centric warfare experiments in a virtual warfare environment. “The MEL is an extremely valuable resource for maritime tactical experiments,” he said.

“Experienced Navy personnel will work closely with DSTO researchers in simulated combat situations and complex fleet battle experiments.”

The Torpedo Systems Centre will support DSTO’s extensive torpedo research program, including development of new techniques for tracking and detecting incoming torpedoes.

VADM Richie pointed to the cooperation between Navy and DSTO, joint forces and the US Navy in the development of the advanced capability heavyweight torpedo to be fitted to the Collins class submarines.

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