Thales awarded Royal Navy radio communications replacement contract

Following an open competition, Thales has been awarded a contract by the UK Ministry of Defence for the design, manufacture, installation and in-service support of the V/UHF Communications Replacements (VCR) across the Royal Navy fleet.

The Thales VCR solution replaces the obsolete V/UHF systems across multiple vessel classes and provides a long term capability that will equip the fleet for the future. Thales, as the main supplier of communications systems for the Royal Navy, is repackaging the V/UHF system successfully designed and delivered by Thales for the Queen Elizabeth Carrier.  This solution delivers a proven capability for the Royal Navy and an implementation approach that maintains platform availability.  

Building on the success of the update programme for the Type 23 Frigate fleet external communications voice distribution and management system (Calliope Phase 1), Thales continues to provide solutions that meets the customer needs and furthers the convergence of communications systems across platforms, reducing the training and support burden, enabling effective and competitive long term support through economies of scale. 

Thales is at the heart of Royal Navy communications systems providing internal and external communications systems support for fleet-wide communications, including long-term support for the QEC Carriers and Type 45 Destroyers.  Our communications systems are critical for the Royal Navy platforms such as the Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carriers and Type 45 Destroyers to operate at sea.

We have been providing communications systems to the Royal Navy for almost 100 years, and this latest contract represents another significant win for Thales. We successfully developed a competitive approach to the open competition and we are pleased to be implementing our solution for the Royal Navy, while assuring that Thales deliver the new systems and communications capability without impacting the platforms’ schedule and operational availability. – Gareth Williams – Vice President Thales Secure Communications and Information Systems.