Australia Reduces Frigate Upgrade Program (May 30)
ADI Limited has signed a Deed of Settlement and Release with the Commonwealth of Australia formalising the Government’s decision to reduce the FFG Upgrade Project from six ships to four and resolving all outstanding commercial and contractual issues on the A$1 billion project.
The deed, signed by vice president Thales Naval Australia and ADI director of naval Ali Baghaei, and Defence Materiel Organisation deputy CEO Kim Gillis on Monday May 29, is the result of several months of detailed negotiations. The signing comes one month after the first upgraded frigate HMAS Sydney achieved ‘handback’ to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
The Australian Government announced its decision to retire the RAN’s two oldest guided missile frigates to provide offsets to support the acquisition of three air warfare destroyers in its Defence Capability Review Statement of November 2003.
Mr Baghaei described the signing as an important step forward in the working relationship between ADI and the DMO.
“With the support and cooperation of DMO and the Navy, ADI has made significant progress in delivering the FFG Upgrade Project over the last year.
“With the contractual issues between ADI and DMO now resolved, I am looking forward to consolidating our progress and working more closely together to deliver a successful outcome for the remainder of this project,” Mr Baghaei said.
Mr Gillis was equally pleased with the agreement. “Through this agreement, DMO can deliver this required capability to Navy. With the cooperative working relationship now existing between DMO and ADI,
I am confident of our ability to successfully deliver the FFG Upgrade Project,” Mr Gillis said.
As well as reducing the scope of the original FFG Upgrade Project contract from six ships to four, the deed revises the project schedule, clarifies test and trial procedures and formalises the process of delivering upgraded frigates back to the RAN.
The FFG Upgrade Project is the most sophisticated naval systems integration task ever undertaken by an Australian company involving both new technologies and legacy equipment. Central to the upgrade is the new command and control system known as the Australian Distributed Architecture Combat System (ADACS), developed by ADI.
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Deed of Settlement and Release Signed for FFG Upgrade
