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GRAND OPENING: Defence Minister Dr Brendan Nelson delivers a speech at the opening of the Air Warfare Destroyer Systems Centre in Adelaide last week. |
Volume
49, No. 14, August 10 , 2006
By Michael Brooke
A key milestone in the delivery of the RAN’s three Hobart Class Air Warfare Destroyers was recorded when Defence Minister Dr Brendan Nelson opened the new Air Warfare Destroyer Systems Centre in Adelaide on August 3.
More than 30 VIPs including Chief of Navy VADM Russ Shalders, AO, CSC, RAN, attended the opening of the Systems Centre. It will house the Defence and industry participants who will work together on the $4.5-6 billion AWD Program and bring the successful design to life.
Dr Nelson said the AWD program, which is on schedule and within budget, was leading the way in the management of Defence acquisition programs.
He said the significance of the Systems Centre is that it provides the AWD Alliance with a collaborative team environment in which staff from Defence and the industry participants can work together to achieve program goals.
This is a unique arrangement in which the AWD Alliance – DMO, ASC AWD Shipbuilder Pty Ltd and the Combat Systems Engineer Raytheon Australia Pty Ltd – will work with two competing ship designers in the one building.
Dr Nelson said both the competing Existing Design and Evolved Design will be developed by the AWD Alliance in the countdown to the Government selecting the preferred platform design in the second half of 2007.
The Existing Design is based on the Navantia F100 in service with the Spanish Navy, while the Evolved Design by Gibbs & Cox, Inc is based on the Arleigh Burke Class destroyer that is in service with the US Navy.
Dr Nelson said this competitive arrangement will ensure the Government gets the information it needs to select the platform design that best meets the requirements of the RAN and the ADF.
The Defence Minister said when these AWDs are commissioned early next decade they will provide the RAN with a significant new capability.
“Combined with the Joint Strike Fighter, Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft and Collins Class submarines, the AWDs will act as a critical link in a networked Australian Defence Force,” he said.
Dr Nelson said these warships, which will serve the RAN for 30 to 40 years, are being procured because “the Government is determined that the Navy has the best possible capability with which to protect our people, interests and values”.
VADM Shalders said the three AWDs to be named HMA Ships Hobart, Sydney and Brisbane, will be equipped with the Aegis combat system and would provide the RAN with a quantum leap in capability.
VADM Shalders said the Aegis equipped AWDs would provide vital protection for the Amphibious ships to be procured under Joint Project 2048 as from 2012.
