Boeing has selected Ferra Engineering of Australia to produce wing kits for its High Altitude Anti-Submarine Warfare Weapon Capability, marking another milestone in the companies’ ongoing defence manufacturing partnership.
The contract will see the Queensland-based manufacturer establish local production capacity for the HAAWC wing kits, supporting Australia’s drive to expand sovereign defence industry capability.
HAAWC provides an all-weather means for the P-8A Poseidon to employ Mk 54 lightweight torpedoes from high altitude and extended stand-off distances, transforming traditional anti-submarine warfare tactics.
At the core of the system is a guidance wing kit that allows the weapon to glide autonomously to a pre-programmed target area using GPS-assisted navigation, with a fully inertial fallback mode for operations in contested or GPS-denied environments.
The capability enables torpedo release from heights of up to 30,000 feet, compared with legacy low-level release profiles of roughly 100 feet, dramatically reducing aircraft exposure to threats.
By removing the requirement for low-altitude flight, HAAWC improves platform survivability while also reducing fuel burn and overall mission time.
The award adds to Ferra’s growing contribution to Boeing defence programmes. The company already supplies high-precision components for the MQ-28 Ghost Bat uncrewed aircraft and exports parts to the United States for aircraft including the F/A-18F Super Hornet, AH-64E Apache, and P-8A Poseidon.
The partnership was further formalised in 2023 with the signing of a memorandum of understanding covering wing kit production for Boeing’s JDAM-ER and JDAM-LR weapon programmes.
