HMA Ships Hobart, Brisbane and Sydney have participated in their first ever joint naval exercise against training targets deployed by Air Affairs Australia.
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Engineering and services company Air Affairs Australia has participated in a large Naval exercise within the Eastern Exercise Area, completing the inaugural dual Phoenix target presentation.
The operation provided a double low level threat emulation against three of the Royal Australian Navy’s fighting ships, air warfare destroyers, HMA Ships Hobart, Brisbane and Sydney, which exercised together for the first time.
The exercise — witnessed by Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price — enabled the ships to test their Aegis Combat Systems, which provide them with advanced layered offensive and defensive capabilities to counter conventional and asymmetrical threats.
Targets commenced their ‘attack’ within 10 seconds of each other, at low altitude and a speed of 300 knots.
The targets initially attacked two of the ships, with one target commanded by a four-person flight crew to break away and switch its attack profile to threaten the third ship and test the combat system response of all three destroyers.
In response, HMAS Hobart and HMAS Brisbane each fired a Standard Missile 2 against the attacking Phoenix targets.
The Navy was pleased with the outcome of the training exercise, recognising the effectiveness of Air Affairs’ execution of the operation.
Air Affairs also thanked Navy personnel for their participation in the operation.
“This is a tremendous achievement for our very first dual target mission,” an Air Affairs spokesperson said.
[Related: Allies sharpen ASW skills at multi-national Exercise Sea Dragon]