Feature 3 | FRIGATES, CORVETTES & DESTROYERS High hopes for GCS on export market


Tis year marks the launch of the latest British surface combatant programme, the Type 26 frigate, which is being marketed abroad as the Global Combat Ship (GCS), a design that UK PLC hopes will be as successful as the Leander class frigates of 50 years ago.


First steel for the Type 26 could be cut in 2016 with the first-of-class will be launched two years later.


T (ASW)


he Type 26 will be a successor to the Type 23 (Duke) class frigates, yet there remains tremendous


confusion about the relationship between Type 26, GCS and the now defunct former Future Surface Combatant (FSC) project. Te evolution of the Type 26/ GCS provides some firm pointers to the parameters of the new design and by examining this evolution these can be understood. Te Type 23 anti-submarine warfare frigate was


the penultimate Cold War surface combatant design


and was designed to help shield streams of merchantmen bringing men and supplies from North America to Europe. Te Dukes were to operate in the North Atlantic, especially the Greenland- Iceland-United Kingdom (GIUK) Gap. Te GIUK, a would-be ‘choke point’ for Soviet nuclear submarines, is a harsh maritime environment of frequent storms which can reduce ship life to as little as 18 years. Tey were to detect, track


24


and intercept Russian nuclear-powered attack submarines operating in deep waters while under threat from missile attack from enemy surface combatants, submarines and aircraſt. In these circumstances it was


anticipated a replacement for the Type 23s would need to enter service about 2005 but then, just as the Dukes entered service, the Cold War ended. Studies for a replacement, known as the Future Escort, had begun in 1994 but the new strategic situation reduced the urgency for a new ship and it was quickly concluded there was no longer any serious prospect of prolonged high-intensity conflicts, especially in the North Atlantic. Post Cold War, world operations were more likely in calmer, warmer waters close to the less stable regions of the world, therefore reducing wear on the ships and pushing back the need for replacements by up to two decades. It was now anticipated that the Type 23s would remain operational until the 2020s,


with upgrades, including substantial improvements to cooling systems in both equipment and living spaces for efficient operation in tropical climates where temperatures reach up to 40°C.


Triton demonstrator Tese parameters were confirmed by the 1997 Strategic Defence Review which also reduced the number of surface combatants from 35 to 32, and with the extension of the Duke class’ lives the Ministry of Defence’s object was more to replace the Type 22s about 2015. In 1998, as part of this process, the Ministry began investigating concepts for a future surface combatant and ordered a trimaran technology demonstrator RV Triton, to investigate the advantages of such a concept over the traditional monohull. In the event the traditionalists won the argument, Triton was paid off and now operates as a patrol vessel off Queensland. Reduced defence budgets meant increased political pressure for


Warship Technology October 2011


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