The Australian Ministry of Defense accepted
delivery of its first Aegis-equipped air warfare destroyer, Hobart, in a
ceremony at the Osborne naval shipyard on June 16.
Hobart is the first of three destroyers being
built and integrated by the AWD Alliance which comprises the Department of
Defence, Raytheon Australia and ASC with support from Navantia.
In the coming months, Hobart will transit
from Adelaide to Sydney where she will be commissioned into service by the
Royal Australian Navy (RAN) later this year.
AWD Alliance General Manager Paul Evans said
today’s provisional acceptance is a testament to more than 5,000 Australian
shipbuilders and systems integrators who have worked on the AWD program over
the past decade.
“Ten years ago, the AWD Alliance was formed
to undertake the complex task of designing, constructing, integrating and
testing a new class of warships for Australia. Along the way, we have created
an entire workforce of highly skilled Australian shipbuilders, program managers
and systems integrators.”
“Hobart will play a critical role for Defence
by providing new interoperable capabilities for the Royal Australian Navy,”
Australian Minister for Defence Industry Christopher Pyne said.
“By using a combination of US and Australian
technologies, these ships will allow us to work even closer with our allies.”
Work on Hobart kicked off in January 2010
with her hull consolidation in March 2014, official launch in May 2015 and
builder’s sea trials in September 2016.
Hobart is 146.7 metres long, has a top speed
of 28 knots (52km/h), a range of about 5000 nautical miles and room for more
than 200 crew.
She carries a range of weapons, detection and
electronic warfare systems onboard, which include an Aegis threat tracking
system, SPQ Horizon Search Radar, 48 vertical launch missile cells, a 5″ gun
for coastal operations and two quad launchers of anti-ship HARPOON weapon
systems.
The AWDs have also been equipped with
anti-surface, anti-submarine and naval gunfire capabilities.
Source: navaltoday.com
Related post:
Hobart Class Air Warfare Destroyers: Details
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