Third Air Warfare Destroyer
GE Marine reports it has delivered two LM2500 aeroderivative gas turbines to ASC in Adelaide, Australia. The LM2500s will power the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) third Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD).
ASC, the AWD project shipbuilder within the AWD Alliance, is constructing all three Hobart-class AWDs. Each ship features two LM2500s configured in a CODOG arrangement with two diesel engines. The RAN’s new destroyers are based on the design developed and used by Navantia of Spain for the Spanish Navy’s F100 frigate program.
The LM2500 gas turbines for the AWD program were manufactured at GE’s Evendale, Ohio, facility. The base and enclosure assemblies for the LM2500s were built by Thales Australia Limited, through a business component in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia.
The RAN currently operates 16 LM2500 gas turbines in two additional ship classes – the Adelaide- and ANZAC- class frigate programs. The RAN also will use LM2500s to power two Canberra-class LHD ships, to be named HMAS Canberra and HMAS Adelaide. The RAN’s LHD ships, currently under construction, will rely on one LM2500 gas turbine in a COmbined Diesel Electric And Gas turbine (CODLAG) configuration.