Air Warfare Destroyer Project Progressing Well

Air Warfare Destroyer Project Progressing Well

Greg Combet, the Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Procurement, today congratulated the Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) Alliance on awarding a contract to BAE Systems to provide the Mark 45 Gun for the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) AWDs.

“The weapon will provide the destroyers with both a sea and land warfare capability. The gun has a range of 60 nautical miles and will be capable of firing both RAN standard munitions and extended range munitions,” Mr Combet said.

“The value of the contract is approximately $80 million.

“A variant of the gun is already in operation on the RAN’s ANZAC Class frigates, in US Navy destroyers, Spanish F100 and in several other navies.

“With today’s announcement, the AWD Alliance has now let contracts or identified preferred suppliers for the delivery of equipment worth more than $1 billion. This equipment includes the core Aegis combat system for the ship as well as the gun and sonar systems.

“The procurement processes for a number of other combat system components are also at an advanced stage, including the navigation radar, satellite communications, the torpedo launch system, the surface to surface missile system and the countermeasures capability.

“It is expected that the AWD Alliance will make a decision early next year on contracts to build ship modules or ‘blocks’, some of which will be fabricated around the country, and then integrated at the ASC facility in Adelaide. The total value of that work is estimated to be around $400 million.

“The AWD project is a very important procurement project and the Government will continue to monitor the progress of the AWD Alliance very closely to ensure that it meets the significant challenges that come with any project of this size and complexity,” Mr Combet said.

The AWD Alliance is made up of the Defence Materiel Organisation, ASC and Raytheon Australia. The first of the AWDs is scheduled for delivery in late 2014.

ENDS

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