Australia’s ANZAC Frigates will be further protected from supersonic cruise missile attacks thanks to new radar technology acquired and fitted onto the ships by the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO).

The CEAFAR Radar and CEAMOUNT Missile Control Illuminator are part of a multi-phased array radar system used to identify, track and guide missiles onto multiple targets simultaneously.

The technology upgrade also gives the ships the means to detect and destroy incoming supersonic cruise missiles. The fitting was part of the Anti-Ship Missile Defence Upgrade programme, the multiphase radar system was developed by the US and Australian military in a joint venture.

HMAS Perth was recently upgraded and its new capability was successfully shown off to the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) at the annual Esquimalt Victoria Day Parade.

The total project cost is in excess of $650 million, including the funds already spent upgrading HMAS Perth. The Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) remaining seven frigates will be upgraded by 2017.

RAN and RCN have a long history of serving and training together. RAN and RCN ships served during the Korean War, in support to East Timor, and have been longstanding participants in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise series, the largest maritime exercise in the world.

While on deployment to the US West Coast and Canada, HMAS Perth will conduct international engagement visits to several other ports and will participate in RIMPAC 2012.