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Abstract

There has been considerable interest around the world in the important “AEGIS” system used extensively by theUS Navy and other partner nations. The heart of this important combat system, particularly of its AAW capability,is its phased array radar, the S-band AN/SPY-1. In his civil service career with the US Navy, Mr. Hill was responsiblefor the earliest (1960s) concept formulation of this radar, from the beginning designed fully as a part of thesystem it supports, and then was the Navy’s project manager of its development (1970s) and its subsequentdeployment in the AEGIS cruisers. He was also the first total combat system engineer of the successor destroyersystem (then the DDGX, now the Arleigh Burke class) during the industrial competition for that development(1979, 1980).Mr. Hill will informally discuss early “tradeoffs” leading to various design decisions, various experiences (typicalof such a project) during development and testing, and conclusions one can draw about such engineering.

Seminar Outline:

• A little AEGIS history;
• Answering the skeptics’ questions: “How will I know it’s forming a beam?” among others;
• The transition “from paper to practice” – a half dozen or so stories;
• Experienced principles of “System Engineering”, and challenges today.

Of course, AEGIS performance is itself not addressed; the nature of such engineering development is the focus. 

Venue

The seminar will be run at Thales Australia ATiC facility at Garden Island, on the morning  of Friday 30th Nov 2007.  The visitor map shows the location of the ATiC at Garden island.  Given the nature of the site  it is necessary that all external attendees report to the main entrance. From there they will be escorted to the seminar room.

Format of the seminar:

How to register for the seminar:

Bookings for this free seminar are essential. To register please contact Anne-Marie Eliseo, whose details are given below.