MOORESTOWN, N.J., 31 March 2009. Four antennas destined for Australia's first Air Warfare Destroyer were installed in Lockheed Martin's Aegis Production Test Center, marking the full system's transition from production to testing, reveals a company representative.

Testing on the first Air Warfare Destroyer Aegis shipset will begin in early May and end in November. When testing concludes, the Aegis Weapon System will be ready for installation in HMAS Hobart, the first of three Australian Air Warfare Destroyers under contract.

Lockheed Martin's Production Test Center replicates a ship's superstructure and allows for the first integration of all the subsystems of the Aegis Weapon System, including the SPY-1D(V) radar, illuminators, all computing hardware, and the cabling that will be used in the final ship installation.

Upon completion of the testing, the Aegis Weapon System will be shipped to ASC Shipyard in Adelaide, Australia, when the shipyard is ready to install the system. The Hobart-class Air Warfare Destroyer will be the most advanced and complex warships ever built in Australia and will introduce the Aegis Weapon System to the Royal Australian Navy.