Australian Navy receives second air warfare destroyer ‘Brisbane’

The Australian defense procurement office has accepted delivery of the Royal Australian Navy’s second Hobart-class air warfare destroyer NUSHIP Brisbane in a ceremony in Adelaide on Friday.

The Department of Defence Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group received the ship after it completed sea trials in May this year.

The delivery ceremony, attended by defense industry minister Christopher Pyne and Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Michael Noonan, included the presentation of the ship’s bell rope and battle honor board to Brisbane’s commanding officer Commander Josh Wilson.

“Brisbane will enter into service later this year and with her sister ships, they will be the most potent warships ever operated by the Royal Australian Navy,” minister Pyne said.

“By using a combination of Australian and globally proven technologies, these highly capable warships will contribute directly to our maritime security and allow us to work even closer with our allies.”

“This is major step in the construction of the Brisbane, and she will be one of the most capable warships in the world, and it is a reflection of how Navy’s modern warfighting has evolved,” Vice Admiral Noonan said.

“She has the world’s first complete combat management system, which integrates powerful computers, radars and weapon systems to provide simultaneous defense against advanced air, surface and subsurface threats, allowing the Royal Australian Navy to think, fight and win.”

This is the final milestone for Brisbane, and she will transition from Adelaide to Sydney in September where she will be commissioned into service.

Brisbane successfully completed her second phase of sea trials off the coast of South Australia earlier this year. This phase of trials, known as Category 5 (CAT 5) sea acceptance trials, ran over a three week period, and included some 30 platform tests and 38 combat system tests, comprising of over 120 other test activities.

Hobart-class destroyers are built under an AU$9 billion program with ASC as primary shipbuilder and Spanish Navantia as the designer.

The ships are over 140 metres long, have a top speed of more than 28 knots, a range of about 5000 nautical miles and room for more than 200 crew members. They are equipped with the Aegis weapon system incorporating the AN/ SPY 1D(V) phased array radar in combination with the SM-2 missile.

The ships will provide an air defense system capable of engaging enemy aircraft and missiles at ranges in excess of 150 kilometers.

HMAS Hobart – the first ship in the class – and the yet to be commissioned Brisbane recently successfully demonstrated the Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC), a system which expands the ships’ battlespace awareness by sharing sensor data among a network of CEC-equipped ships and aircraft.

The third ship in the class, NUSHIP Sydney, was launched at ASC’s Adelaide shipyard in May this year.