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FIRING
UP: The RAN’s subs will receive a boost with the addition
of new combat systems and heavyweight torpedoes.
Photo: ABPH Quentin Mushins.
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By
Michael Brooke
The
state-of-the-art Collins class submarines will receive a technological
boost with the installation of a new combat system and heavyweight
torpedoes.
Commander Australian Navy Submarine Group (CANSG) CDRE Rick Shalders
said the Navy’s Collins class submarines would be “the
cutting edge of diesel-electric submarine technology” when
they are fitted out with a new tactical combat system and state-of-the-art
heavyweight torpedoes.
CDRE Shalders told Navy News that the $857 million capability
investment project to upgrade all six Collins-class subs would
be completed by 2010.
“HMAS Waller will be the first Collins-class sub to be fitted
out with a new replacement tactical combat system and upgraded
state-of-the-art heavyweight torpedoes,” he said.
CDRE Shalders said the first combat system is currently undergoing
integration with Australian components and sensors at HMAS Stirling
and that the project would be on-cost and on-schedule.
“When the integration work is completed the systems will
be put through a rigorous testing program before being installed
in Waller,” he said.
CDRE Shalders said Waller will be docked at Adelaide’s ASC
facility for the next 12-months while the new systems are fitted.
She is scheduled to commence sea trials with the new capabilities
in early 2007.
The RAN is currently working with the United States Navy on the
development of the new heavyweight torpedo program.
Defence Minister Robert Hill said that cooperating with the US
Navy “means we have the opportunity to influence design and
development of the systems and to participate in a continuous
improvement program to deliver the latest technology advances
for Australia’s submarine fleet”.
The first test firings of the new weapon in Australian waters
occurred in September during a joint exercise involving a US Navy
Submarine and a Collins-class submarine off the Western Australia
coast.
“The test firing was a significant milestone in the joint
development program between the two Navies,” Minister Hill
said.
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