Wednesday 10 January 2018

Babcock announces industry team for Type 31 frigate bid

Babcock's Arrowhead frigate design is a 120 meter general-purpose frigate the company believes it can build for the Royal Navy under the £250 million price limit set by the defense ministry.


Posted on January 8, 2018

UK defense contractor Babcock will be leading a team of industry partners in a bid for the Royal Navy’s new £1.25 billion Type 31e general purpose light frigate program, the company announced on Monday.

According to the announcement, Babcock and Thales have joined forces with BMT, Harland & Wolff and Ferguson Marine to form ‘Team 31’.

Babcock will act as the overall program lead, whilst Thales will have overall responsibility for the development of the mission system solution. Babcock and BMT will use their experience in the development of designs for both naval and commercial vessels to produce a Type 31 design.

Babcock said the make-up of the team would  ensure that the economic benefits of the program are shared across the UK. Ferguson Marine on the Clyde, Harland & Wolff in Belfast and the Babcock facilities in Fife and Devon will all have key roles to play, while much of the equipment provided by Thales and others will support jobs across the UK.

“Team 31 will allow Babcock and Thales to take forward the key lessons from the Aircraft Carrier Alliance and apply them in a new and highly capable team with Harland & Wolff, BMT and Ferguson Marine,” Babcock CEO Archie Bethel said.

“Thales UK is delighted to be working with Babcock and our partners as part of Team 31. We recognise the diversity of roles anticipated for Type31e and, together, we will create and exciting, innovative and flexible capability for the Royal Navy based on the best of UK and international technologies in an open-system architecture that will ensure long term value for money,” Victor Chavez, CEO of Thales UK said.

The defense ministry expects the first ships to be in service by 2023, built under a price cap of £250M each for the first batch of five frigates.

The Type 31 frigate will replace five of the Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigates. The other eight Type 23s are already set to be replaced by the upcoming Type 26 class.

Original post: navaltoday.com


Arrowhead 120


Babock unveiled today the Arrowhead 120m general-purpose frigate at DSEI 2017 in London. Arrowhead’s, adaptable configuration acknowledges operational roles will change through the life of the ship with multiple mission bays incorporated into the design allowing for rapid reconfiguration and re-role to meet changing operational needs. 

Adaptable

Arrowhead’s architecture can be configured to meet specific requirements. This general purpose frigate has in-built design margins to accommodate a variety of equipment choices for a broad range of roles from low-threat security operations to task force deployments.


Flexible

Flexibility is a core element of the Arrowhead design philosophy. With large re-configurable mission and payload areas onboard, Arrowhead can provide flexibility across a range of operational roles, from HADRO (Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief Operations) to unmanned systems deployment and operation.


Arrowhead 120 has a length of 120 meters, a breadth of 19 meters for a displacement of 4000 tonnes. Its speed is 24+ knots and range is 6000 nautical miles at 15 knots. Crew complement is 80 (plus 40). The vessel was design with commercial standard with applied naval engineering standards.


Missions bays: Space for numerous containerized units within the optimally located mission bays. Facilities for launch & recovery of UXVs. Flexible, reconfigurable infrastructure.

Missile options: Deck space for up to 8 surface to surface guided weapons. Up to 16 cells VLS.


Small calibre guns: Design provision for SCGs up to 30mm with associated EO sensors and magazine arrangements. Weapons can be fitted at a number of upperdeck positions.

Medium calibre guns: Design provision for MCG up to 5 Inch (127mm) with associated infrastructure.


Aviation: Flight deck sized for AW-101 Merlin/MH-60 Seahawk. Hangar capable of accommodating a medium organic naval helicopter (e.g. Seahawk or NH90) or a lighter helicopter plus a VTOL UAV (e.g. AW-159 Wildcat & MQ-8C Firescout). Design can accommodate all envisaged customer naval aircraft. 


Source: navyrecognition.com/ babcockinternational.com

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