Thales part of Team 31 bid to deliver Royal Navy’s new frigate

Thales is pleased to be part of the industry team bidding for the Ministry of Defence’s new Type 31e general purpose light frigate programme.

As a global leader in naval sensors and systems, Thales has joined forces with Babcock, BMT, Harland & Wolf and Ferguson Marine to form ‘Team 31’ to deliver five General Purpose Frigates for  £1.25 billion.

Babcock will act as the overall programme lead, while Thales will have overall responsibility for the development of the Mission System solution. Babcock and BMT will use their unrivalled experience in the development of designs for both naval and commercial vessels to produce a world-class product.

Thales and Babcock are also members of the highly-successful Aircraft Carrier Alliance, which has designed and built the Royal Navy’s new Queen Elizabeth Class carriers.

Team 31 will drive economic benefits throughout the UK. The highly experienced team will seek to deliver capable, cost-effective and flexible ships to the Royal Navy and, using the team’s considerable international reach, maximise export opportunities.

The make-up of the team will ensure that the economic benefits of the programme are shared across the UK. Thales has maritime technology facilities at Stockport, Somerset and the south-east of England.

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 others will support jobs across the UK.

The UK’s National Shipbuilding Strategy has ushered in an exciting era for naval procurement in the UK.  Building on key lessons from the success of the Queen Elizabeth carrier programme and the Offshore Patrol Vessel for the Irish navy, the Strategy seeks to maximise UK content, export potential and the cost and programme benefits of a modular build using the breadth of skills and facilities available across the UK.

Team 31’s modular build approach will make best use of UK facilities, innovation and skills to deliver a cutting-edge platform that combines capability with value-for-money and advanced technology to afford class-leading levels of availability and operating costs.

Victor Chavez, CEO of Thales UK 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.”

Babcock CEO Archie Bethel said: “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.

“We firmly believe that our combined skills can deliver an affordable and effective Type31e Frigate programme for the Royal Navy and offer something new and exciting in the export market. With a high degree of UK content and the use of innovative technologies, we believe that our approach will deliver real benefits to UK plc.”