[cba123]

Looks like a nice ship to me.

So they buy American missiles for this ship. Not a bad choice, America has lots of experience at this.

Just saying.

[Oztrich Boy]

Well they have no immediate plans to acquire any missiles for the Mk41 launchers. (The separate Sea Ceptor launchers for the CAAM anti-air missiles will be loaded).

But fitting the Mk41 anyway still makes some sense.

For one thing, Australia's SEA 5000 program does not consider the Mk41 optional, and if BAE Systems doesn't come up with a completed design by the end of 2017, they will lose to either Fincantieri or Navantia.

BAE needs to realise for future export prospects the Australian order is the more important one: It's larger, more imminent, and specifies a more advanced ship (with a proper AESA radar system instead of that crappy little Brit Artisan rotator.)

[bert]

Meanwhile, in America, the primary plant for manufacturing military explosives is run by BAE systems