Rohde & Schwarz Australia has been contracted by BAE Systems Maritime Australia (BAESMA) to deliver integrated communication and control systems for the first batch of three Hunter-class frigates for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the company announced on 29 August 2024.
The company will be providing its NAVICS IP-based naval integrated communication system (ICS), which “will be the central nervous system of the Hunter frigate’s communications system, providing integrated and reliable internal and external communications and the processing classified information, within a multi-level security environment”, the company stated.
The Hunter class, six of which will be built for the RAN, is an export variant of the UK’s Type 26 frigate known as the Global Combat Ship.
Rohde & Schwarz has operated in Australia for more than 40 years, establishing a sovereign ICS and service delivery capability in the country. This has been further enhanced through technology and knowledge transfer from its parent company in Germany.
Rohde & Schwarz Australia’s workforce has already doubled to deliver on engineering services for the design and manufacture of the ICS and will continue to grow with support of the Hunter programme. The company said it will work closely with BAESMA to maximise opportunities for Australian industry to assist in the manufacture, integration, testing and commissioning of the ICS.
A Rohde & Schwarz source told ESD on 29 August that Rohde & Schwarz Australia is currently maturing the design for the first batch of Hunter-class frigates. BAESMA as prime contractor and the Australian government as the customer want to use, as far as possible, the same systems and equipment on the Hunter-class frigates as those currently being provided for the UK’s Type 26 frigate programme.
It is envisaged that the ICS design for the Hunter class will evolve to meet immerging and future needs of the RAN to maintain its leading-edge capabilities, the source added.
Rohde & Schwarz Australia Managing Director Gareth Evans said this contract is a clear validation of the highly collaborative working relationship established between Rohde & Schwarz, BAESMA and the Australian government.
“This confirmation of Rohde & Schwarz Australia as Communications System Integrator is testament to the dedication and hard work of our project team since we first began work to provide early engineering services for the design and manufacture of the ICS more than five years ago,” said Evans. “With our resilient local capacity to innovate, develop and deliver communication systems we are a trusted partner to both the Commonwealth and BAESMA, underpinning the Sovereign Defence Industrial Priority of Continuous Naval Shipbuilding and Sustainment.”
Wolfgang Marchl, Rohde & Schwarz’s vice president of R&D technology systems, asserted that the selection of NAVICS reinforces the company’s capability to support large naval programmes throughout their complete lifecycle.
“For Hunter we’ve built on the close collaboration between our headquarters and the UK operation we established for development of the Type 26 communications solution,” Marchl said. “Now, with Rohde & Schwarz Australia also incorporated into this collaboration, we are well placed not only to deliver on this project but also for any future large naval programmes that may be shared between the UK and Australia.
“Rohde & Schwarz is committed to building a strategic partnership with the Commonwealth of Australia to support in-country integration, adaptation and evolution of defence capability as well as for test and evaluation, certification and systems assurance,” Marchl added.
