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Smooth landing for Shark
Volume 50, No. 16, September 06, 2007 |
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| INCOMING: Shark 05 coming in to land on the Spanish F100 destroyer Alvaro De Bazan in this recently released photo. |
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Navy got a taste of how the new Air Warfare Destroyers might operate when a Navy Sea King helicopter landed on the flight deck of the Alvaro De Bazan off Sydney heads earlier this year.
Sea King pilots LCDR Glynn and LEUT Hamilton reported that the ship had a remarkably stable deck given the sea state at the time.
Shark 05 was the first RAN aircraft to land on the ship. On board were the Minister for Defence, Dr Brendan Nelson, and the Chief of Navy, VADM Russ Shalders AO CSC RAN.
The Spanish ship, built by Navantia, is the model for three Air Warfare Destroyers that will be built for the RAN.
The Prime Minister, John Howard, announced the decision to buy Spanish designed Air Warfare Destroyers in June. They will be assembled in Adelaide by the AWD alliance consisting of ASC, DMO and Raytheon at an estimated cost of $8 billion.
The AWDs, to be known as the Hobart class, will feature the Aegis combat system and will be modified to suit Australian specifications.
The ships are due to be delivered in 2014, 2016 and 2017. |
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