Air Warfare Destroyer Alliance

The Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) Alliance has taken another major step towards putting in place the major elements of the combat system for Australia's three air warfare destroyers with the selection of the preferred supplier of the ships' Electronic Warfare (EW) capability. The AWD Alliance's CEO John Gallacher said the Alliance has selected ITT--E... DO Reconnaissance Surveillance Systems (RSS) group as the preferred supplier of the EW capability. The AWD EW capability will be capable of detecting and classifying radars, producing countermeasure transmissions against radar threats as well as intercepting communication signals. "The decision means that the Alliance is close to completing the procurement of all the key components of the ships' combat system on schedule. The EW component will be integrated with the Aegis weapon system that successfully completed testing in the United States late last year. "We already have in place contracts for other elements of what will be the Australianised Hobart Class Combat System including the Mk 45 5" Gun, sonar, torpedo capability, the Harpoon capability, satellite communications and the very short range defence capability," he said. Mr Gallacher said the EDO (RSS) group, part of global company ITT, had joined with the wholly Australian owned Jenkins Engineering Defence Systems and the Adelaide-based Avalon Systems to provide the EW capability. "We welcome the involvement of the two Australian based companies. Jenkins Engineering has 20 years experience in the design, manufacture and support of EW, radar and radio communications equipment. Avalon Systems is a defence electronics company specialising in the areas of design and manufacture of EW sub systems, research and development. "Their involvement will be significant for Australia's EW sector that has been identified by the Government as a Priority Industry Capability (PIC)." Mr Gallacher said the decision followed an exhaustive selection process based on the principles applied to all AWD procurements including: ...Read More