 |
| HMAS ARUNTA (File Photo) |
HENDERSON, WA - HMAS ANZAC has been undocked from the BAE Systems Henderson Shipyard where it had been undergoing the Anti-Ship Missile Defence (ASMD) upgrade for the last 12 months.
The warship is now commencing its final outfitting and test and trials program before commencing sea trials later this year.
This achievement follows another recent milestone with HMAS ARUNTA recently sailing from Fleet Base West (FBW) to carry out sea trials before returning to service with the new ASMD capability.
BAE Systems Director of Maritime Bill Saltzer said ‘’the scope of the project for the full ANZAC Class frigate fleet included ship integration of the leading edge CEA Phased Array Radar (PAR), the Vampir NG Infrared Search & Track (IRST) system, the Sharpeye Navigation Radar System (NRS), and an upgraded Saab Combat Management System (CMS), including an improved operations room layout.
“In addition to performing this upgrade which gives the ANZAC Frigates a significantly increased self-defence capability, the DMO and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) are using each ship availability period to implement other engineering changes and maintenance activities that serve to improve operational performance and extend the life of the fleet,” he said.
In addition to the base scope ASMD upgrade, BAE Systems is delivering other engineering changes, hundreds of maintenance tasks, and in the case of HMAS ARUNTA, a major reactivation of ship systems that have been dormant for over three years. By combining all these activities together, the RAN will avoid having to take the ships out of service multiple times.
On HMAS ARUNTA, additional work has been added to the scope that could easily have required another four-month availability, and yet the length of time out of service has changed by only a few weeks from the original plan for the ASMD upgrade.
Similar additional work scopes are being added to HMAS ANZAC and the other vessels in the program.
 |
| HMAS PERTH (File Photo) |
HMAS PERTH was the first ship to be completed and re-entered service in 2011.The ASMD Upgrade project will ultimately include all eight ANZAC Frigates.
By having as many as three ships in upgrade at a time, the project is schedule to be completed in 2017.
HMAS ARUNTA is the second ship in the upgrade program and HMAS ANZAC is the third.
HMAS WARRAMUNGA, the fourth ship, was dry berthed at the Henderson shipyard in mid- February and her upgrade is also currently in progress.
BAE Systems is the prime contractor, platform system integrator and the team at the shipyard in Western Australia is performing the associated ship modifications and engineering changes along with a large number of maintenance and repair tasks on each ship.
All of the ANZAC Class Frigates were built in the BAE Systems shipyard in Williamstown, Victoria and much of the design and engineering work for the ASMD upgrade was undertaken there as well.