Royal Australian Navy opens new warfighting agency

The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has opened a centralised warfighting agency, designed to enhance the navy’s lethality in times of conflict.

The Maritime Warfare Centre merges the Royal Australian Navy Test and Evaluation Authority (RANTEA) and Australian Maritime Warfare Centre (AMWC) into a centralised body to support current and future capabilities to fight and win at sea.

Centre director Captain David Frost said that scientific, engineering, and deep warfare experience will be applied to understand what the service’s ships, submarines, and aircraft are capable of and how these assets can be utilised to their full potential when called upon.

Captain Frost added that the centre’s test and tactics development teams will support navy programmes from inception to completion wherein they will plan, collect, and analyse data that will inform critical decisions about current and future systems.

The centre will also have warfare programme and operational analysis teams to collaborate with the appropriate agencies on the development of plans across sea control, littoral, integrated air and missile defence, and information warfare domains.

The Maritime Warfare Centre is located at Garden Island, Sydney.