Boeing has chosen Australia’s Ferra Engineering to manufacture wing kits for its High Altitude Anti-Submarine Warfare Weapon Capability (HAAWC), strengthening the long-standing defence manufacturing partnership between the two companies.
Under the agreement, the Queensland-based firm will establish domestic production facilities for HAAWC wing kits, supporting Australia’s push to build sovereign defence industrial capability.
HAAWC enables the P-8A Poseidon to deploy Mk 54 lightweight torpedoes from high altitude and extended stand-off ranges in all weather conditions, fundamentally reshaping conventional anti-submarine warfare operations.
Central to the system is a guidance wing kit that allows the weapon to glide autonomously to a pre-set target area using GPS-assisted navigation, with a fully inertial backup mode for contested or GPS-denied environments.
The capability allows torpedo release from altitudes of up to 30,000 feet—far higher than the traditional low-level release of around 100 feet—significantly reducing aircraft vulnerability to threats.
By eliminating the need for low-altitude flight, HAAWC enhances aircraft survivability while also lowering fuel consumption and shortening mission duration.
This contract expands Ferra’s growing role in 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 platforms such as the F/A-18F Super Hornet, AH-64E Apache, and P-8A Poseidon.
The collaboration was further strengthened in 2023 with a memorandum of understanding covering wing kit production for Boeing’s JDAM-ER and JDAM-LR weapons.
