STATEMENT REGARDING THE COOPERATIVE ENGAGEMENT CAPABILITY SUCCESS ON AUSTRALIA’S AIR WARFARE DESTROYERS
The following may be attributed to Michael Ward, managing director of Raytheon Australia:
Raytheon Australia welcomes the announcement that HMAS Hobart and future destroyer Brisbane have successfully demonstrated the Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) system,which is the first use of this technology by a nation other than the United States.
As Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon Marise Payne and Minister for Defence Industry, the Hon Christopher Pyne have said, this new capability will provide United States and Australian warships the ability to share targeting data in real time. This means a combat system can engage a target that it otherwise could not see, by using data from other sensors. In practical terms, this could see the radar sensors from an Air Warfare Destroyer help build the picture that enables a US warship to engage a target – and vice versa. This concept is at the heart of distributed lethality – which will be further extended by the Future Frigates that will also be fitted with Aegis and the Cooperative Engagement Capability.
As the combat system integrator for Australia’s Air Warfare Destroyers, Raytheon Australia considers this announcement a critical milestone for the AWD program and the Royal Australian Navy, with Australia as the first international partner outside of the United States to gain access to this technology.
Our team of 350 naval combat system integrators, engineers and program managers in Adelaide have successfully integrated and delivered the Hobart Class combat system for the AWD program on time and on budget. With access to Raytheon Company in the United States, the US Navy’s Cooperative Engagement Capability design agent, Raytheon Australia continues to act as the safe hands for sensitive US technology on Australian Defence Force programs.
