Page 38 - Australian Defence Magazine April 2020

38 SEA POWER HOBART CLASS
APRIL 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
developed Nulka active anti-ship missile decoy systems, to- gether with 130mm soft kill decoy launchers.
These capabilities are enhanced by the US Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) enabling each AWD to act as part of a wider ‘grid’ of sensor and weapon platforms that
EO, Nulka, Phalanx, and the MU-90 torpedo launch sys- tem. All these are interfaced with Aegis as is our Austra- lian-specific navigation radar, EW, the SPQ-59 horizon search radar, IRST, and the sonar suite.”
Communications also differ from the Spanish fitout – dif- ferent radios, different antenna, and different frequencies, al- though this capability sits alongside rather than within Aegis.
The Australian sub-systems are accessed and controlled via any one or more of six ATI air-cooled multifunction consoles, but tracking information is shared with Aegis, and vice-versa. The upper area of the ATI console carries an Aegis mini-situ- ational awareness display common to everyone in the opera- tions room; sub-system displays run in the lower area.
An EW threat track file on an ATI console is handed off by ATI to an existing Aegis input and merged on the Ae- gis tactical display with a radar track in the same location, producing a master track with more information. An EW threat track that has not been seen by the Aegis-linked ra- dars produces a unique track on the Aegis display.
SONAR FITOUT
The innovative UE-ISS 800 integrated sonar suit was spe- cifically developed by Ultra Electronics to meet Australian requirements.
Rather than a traditional variable depth system with separate and heavy transmit and receive towed arrays op- timised for deep, cold water search, it was decided that a single-tow sonar would provide an acceptable level of ca- pability in the warm, crowded and relatively shallow waters
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allows similarly-equipped ships to share surveillance and target- ing information and reduces the effect of jamming. The RAN is the first navy outside the USN Navy to deploy this capability.
Interfacing Australian-specif- ic equipment to Aegis is under- taken via an Australian Tactical Interface (ATI) developed by
Kongsberg in conjunction with Raytheon Australia. The ATI interfaces all non-US systems outside space controlled by US International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITARS).
AEGIS IN AUSTRALIA
The decision to interface national elements via the ATI without modifying Aegis allows Australian-specific subsys- tems to be upgraded locally, although Australian combat system requirements have necessitated some design chang- es to the ship as well as software integration.
“Our 16 Aegis consoles are standard US Navy water- cooled units whereas the Spanish use their own bespoke air-cooled consoles, so it’s different cabling, different cool- ing parameters, different piping; it’s a pervasive change,” explained CDRE Bourke.
“We’ve also made changes to the ship to accommodate a number of Australian-directed weapons and sensors – the Typhoon/ATK 25mm close-in defence system and Toplite
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