ANZAC class Frigate modernisation reaches final milestones

The Defence and Security company Saab is one of the prime contractors for the ANZAC frigate ASMD project which has reached its most important milestone with the successful firing of an Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile from HMAS PERTH off Jervis Bay, Australia.

The Anti-Ship Missile Defence (ASMD) program was commenced in 2004 to redesign and modernise the ship’s critical combat capability. Its prime role was to prepare the ship’s defences for the potential missile threats of the 21st centrury.

”The ANZAC ship now has a very sophisticated combat system which is clearly a world leader. The ship’s weapons, sensors and command and control capabilities are now highly prioritised towards defence in a hostile anti-ship missile defence scenario”, said Managing Director of Saab Systems in Australia, Mr Richard Price.

HMAS PERTH after her modernisation.
Photo by Eye in the Sky © Saab 2011.

A major part of this project has been to upgrade weapons capability through introduction of the CEA Technologies CEAFAR active phased array radar and CEAMOUNT missile illuminator. Detection of small, fast missiles by Sagem Vampir infrared search and track sensor has also been added and the ship’s data links will be extended by the addition of Link 16, VMF (Virtual Message Format) and satellite capability.

Another vital part of the upgrade has been to enhance the fully integrated combat management system performed by Saab’s 9LV 453 Mk 3E. These enhancements include:

• New 30-inch widescreen operator consoles, with large touch input displays operating commercial Microsoft® operating systems,
• a completely redesigned operations room layout with 10 consoles to improve management and coordination of operations,
• large screen displays on the bulkheads showing intelligence, CCTV and status information,
• redundant Gigabit LANs for greater data capacity,
• new operator modes for fighter control, and
• ulitisation of advanced control modes for the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles.

”Saab will continue to support all variant’s of the 9LV system in the Royal Australian Navy until the rest of the ships are brought up to the ASMD standard,” adds Mr Richard Price.

SAAB