The Honourable Anthony Roberts MP, representing the Premier of New South Wales and Consul General Hugo Llorens, representing the U.S. Ambassador to Australia, joined Rockwell Collins executives on Friday to celebrate the expansion of the company's Sydney facility where F-35 Lightning II Distributed Aperture System (DAS) optical assemblies will be manufactured.

In 2014, Rockwell Collins signed a long-term agreement with Northrop Grumman Corporation to produce optical assemblies in Australia for the DAS on the Lockheed Martin F-35 aircraft. 

“With the support and investment of the Commonwealth of Australia, we're proud to be able to produce this vital assembly in Australia while showcasing Rockwell Collins Australia's precision manufacturing capability for optics,” said Phil Jasper, executive vice president and chief operating officer, Government Systems, for Rockwell Collins. “Having access to new state-of-the-art manufacturing capability located in Australia is a great example of the truly international nature of the F-35 program.”

The DAS is a multifunction infrared system that provides passive, spherical battlespace awareness for F-35 pilots by simultaneously detecting and tracking aircraft and missiles in every direction, as well as providing visual imagery for day/night navigation.

DAS imagery projected onto the pilot's helmet-mounted display provides the capability to, in effect, look virtually at terrain and the rest of the outside world, through the floor and wings of the aircraft. The DAS works in conjunction with the Northrop Grumman AN/APG-81 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and other onboard systems to give pilots an unprecedented degree of situational awareness.