FRIGATE UPGRADE A STEP CLOSER TO CONCLUSION

Greg Combet, Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science today announced that the project to upgrade our Adelaide Class Frigates (FFG) is now a step closer to its conclusion with the contractual acceptance of HMAS Newcastle three months ahead of the schedule.

Mr Combet officiated at a ceremony at Garden Island for the contractual acceptance of HMAS Newcastle, the fourth and final FFG to undergo the upgrade program.

“The FFG Upgrade program, formally known as Project SEA 1390 Phase 2.1, has been a very complex project involving a high level of sophisticated naval systems integration. The project involved the development of new technology systems and the integration of those systems with legacy FFG equipment,” said Mr Combet.

“It is well known that the FFG Upgrade program has been on the Government’s project of concern list due to the long delays in the delivery of this project. Therefore I am very pleased to see the acceptance of this final frigate.”

“The contractual acceptance of HMAS Newcastle now means that the Defence Materiel Organisation has determined that the material properties of all of the upgraded ships are in suitable accordance with contracted requirements.”

“Given the problems this project faced in the past, it has taken very good leadership by all parties including, Navy, DMO, Thales and its subcontractors to reach this point. It has also highlighted to me the importance of the work being undertaken in the Government’s project of concern unit to remediate problematic projects.”

“The upgraded FFGs represent a significant advancement in naval capability for the ADF. They also represent Navy’s migration path to introduction into service of the Air Warfare Destroyer, introducing area air defence and advanced data link capabilities with the integration of the Standard Missile 2 and Link-16 capabilities respectively,” Mr Combet said.

The contract final acceptance milestone for all deliverables of the FFG Upgrade contract is scheduled for achievement prior to 31 December 2009.

Media contacts:

Rod Hilton (Greg Combet):                    02 6277 7620 or 0458 276 619

Defence Media Liaison:                         02 6127 1999 or 0408 498 664