Feature 3 | FRIGATES, CORVETTES & DESTROYERS
commonality to reduce costs and a programme began to emerge for a family of Future Surface Combatants (FSC), which would consist of an anti-submarine platform (later C1) and a general-purpose platform (C2), probably sharing the same hull/propulsion system. In 2004 the Ministry went so far
as to issue information for a Global Corvette as the C1/C2 elements were subjected to various flights of fancy with displacement proposals ranging from 3000-10,000tonnes, although the consensus was for about 5000tonnes. Early in 2006 the Ministry began its Sustained Surface Combatant Capability (S2C2) programme seeking commonalties between C1, C2 and a family of smaller mine countermeasures, hydrographic survey and patrol vessels, also using a common hull/propulsion system. The S2C2 team was disbanded in
March 2007 having delivered a Surface Combatant Capability Plan to support the planning round in 2008 and this
incorporated the small vessels into FSC as the C3. Around this time elements of the naval leadership were publicly suggesting FSC could be up to 35 platforms, a concept regarded with scepticism by observers. During 2007, S2C2 team leader Commodore Steve Brunton reportedly told a meeting of the Defence Manufacturers’ Association that the plan envisaged 10 C1, eight C2 and eight C3. It had been hoped that FSC would
enter the procurement phase with an Initial Assessment in 2008 but this did not happen. Instead the Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Bob Ainsworth, stated in July 2008 the Ministry intended to bring forward the timetable for the introduction of the FSC to replace Type 22 and Type 23. A month later it was announced that the new surface combatants would receive the BAE Systems Insyte Advanced Radar Target Indication Situational Awareness and Navigation (ARTISAN) 3D radar. By now the planning assumptions were based
The Type 26 will be a successor to the Type 23 (Duke) class frigates.
around a circa 6000tonne hull for C1 and C2 and a 2000tonne hull for C3. However, in the approach to the Initial
Gate there were further changes and when the case was submitted in September 2009 it was decided to merge the C1 and C2 elements into the new ship while the C3 element, later renamed Future Mine Countermeasures/Hydrographic/Patrol Vessel (FMHPV), has became a separate programme. This was approved and negotiations opened with BAE Systems; on 25 March 2010 the company received a £127 million (US$205 million) four-year contract to fully design what is now officially described as the Type 26, with an in-service date of 2021.
Quality and lifespan In defining the new vessel, the objectives are to make it a world class platform in terms of quality with a lifespan of some 30 years while preventing an escalation of costs like the previous surface combatant programme – the Type 45 (Daring class) anti-air warfare (AAW) destroyer, which rose 29% from £4.96 billion to £6.46 billion (although this was partly due to halving the requirement from 12 to six hulls, partly to fund FSC). Tis will partly be achieved by physically migrating technology from the Type 23s; the Insyte Outfit DNA combat management system the Tales Sonar 2087 active low frequency (500 Hz) towed body with 100 Hz passive array, together with the Tales Sonar 2054 bow-mounted active search and attack sensor, will form the heart of the ship’s electronics. Both systems will incorporate hard- and soſtware upgrades, but this move will reduce technological risk and ease training. It is also probable that the ships will have the upgraded Thales Outfit UAT Mod 1 electronic support measures systems in the Dukes. Te ship will also have the ARTISAN,
which is described as an extremely modular family of radars that is highly configurable to customer requirements and has been under development under a £100 million contract since 2008. Tis sensor can be used in ships ranging from offshore patrol craſt to aircraſt carriers and was scheduled for installation in the Queen Elizabeth class carriers, the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean, Albion class assault ships, the Type 45s and Type
26 Warship Technology October 2011
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