Sea acceptance trials will test the full suite of mission systems. (AWD Alliance)

NUSHIP Hobart, the first of the three Hobart class DDGs, has departed from the wharf at Techport Australia to begin a second round of sea trials off the coast of South Australia.

These sea acceptance trials follow the completion of builder sea trials in September.

Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) program manager Commodore Craig Bourke said that this second phase of more advanced trials will test the ship’s full suite of mission systems, involving both platform systems and combat systems.

In order to fully test the ship, NUSHIP Hobart will work with a range of fighter aircraft, surface ships and helicopters, as well as civilian platforms, in simulated scenarios.

“These trials are the culmination of all of the preceding design, production, activation, integration and test activities conducted on Hobart to date,” CDRE Bourke said.

“Sea acceptance trials are a significant milestone for the project as it is the first time that the AWD will be tested as a complete mission system.”

ASC Shipbuilding chief executive officer Mark Lamarre stated that the trials provide the formal testing and acceptance phase for the platform.

“Sea acceptance trials further demonstrates the capacity of Australia’s sovereign defence industry to build and integrate ships for our specific defence needs, and will prove this highly capable platform ready for delivery to Defence,” Lamarre said.

The AWD Alliance is expected to deliver NUSHIP Hobart to the Commonwealth in mid-2017.