L3Harris will deliver a new  Maritime Underwater Tracking Range (MUTR) in the waters of Western Australia, restoring a critical training capability. The MUTR uses a network of sensors to capture and relay information about the location and movement of assets within its tracking field, supporting complex exercises involving surface and sub-surface vessels in both deep, oceanic waters and littoral, shallow waters. The ability to accurately track the assets involved in exercises will enable critical tests and evaluation of new weapons and platforms.

Australia used to have a tracking range in the past, also installed originally by L3Harris, but it ceased operations in 2012. Ever since, the Royal Australian Navy has had to do only with a portable acoustic range solution, the Portable Acoustic Sonobuoy Range (PASOR), a solution that had been developed in 2008 again by L3Harris at the time to augment the fixed range following a cable failure.

With the range closed, this portable solution had ended up being the primary tracking range capability used in torpedo exercises.

In 2023, Australia finally picked L3Harris for the SEA 1350 MUTR Phase 3 contract, which will see PASOR further evolve and integrate seabed deployed sensors to offer a Third Generation MUTR solution. The contract at the time was given a value of “up to” 328 million (Australian dollars) with a planned operational life for the range of 20 years.

The range will be strategically positioned at the heart of RAN plans for the submarine fleet in Western Australia, close to both the Navy’s main west coast operating base, HMAS Stirling located near Fremantle, and the key shipbuilding facilities at nearby Henderson.

The MUTR will be key to supporting torpedo training; the evolution of in-service torpedoes, the planned modernization and life-extension of the COLLINS-class submarines and future AUKUS activities, including Pillar 2 experiments with Uncrewed Vehicles both on and below the surface.

The SEA 1350 programme is a comprehensive series of upgrades to key maritime measurement and tracking devices and ranges: Phase 1 is about the Navy Magnetic Treatment Facility, while Phase 2 will replace an existing deperming facility at Fleet Base West.

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