Amphibious Ships Pass Preliminary Design Reviews

MELBOURNE, Australia - BAE Systems has successfully completed the Whole of Ship Preliminary Design Review phase of the project to build Australia’s two largest ever warships.

The completion of this phase marks another important milestone in the construction of Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ships HMAS Canberra and HMAS Adelaide.

Merv Davis, Director, Maritime Business Unit, said that the Whole of Ship Preliminary Design Review examined major subsystems of the LHD ships – including communications, navigation, combat systems, support system and platform system.

Mr Davis added that by passing these technical reviews, BAE Systems was able to successfully demonstrate to the Royal Australian Navy and the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) that it was ready to proceed to the detailed design phase of the LHD program.

“These passes are the result of hard work and dedication from the Maritime engineering teams and are further proof of the quality technical and engineering skills resident within our company.

“All of our teams are now working to prepare for the detailed design reviews that will occur later in 2009,” Mr Davis said.

BAE Systems is contracted to deliver two, 27 000 tonne Canberra Class LHD ships between 2013 and 2015 under Joint Project 2048 Phase 4A/4B. The company will manage the overall project in close cooperation with subcontractors Navantia, Saab and L-3 Communications.

Navantia will build up to the flight deck of the ships in Spain with BAE Systems constructing the superstructures and consolidating the ships in Australia.

About BAE Systems
BAE Systems is the premier global defence, security and aerospace company delivering a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, security, information technology solutions and customer support services. With approximately 105,000 employees worldwide, BAE Systems’ sales exceeded £18.5 billion (US $34.4 billion) in 2008.