NEWS
VT Group to build OPVs for Trinidad and Tobago
Support services and shipbuilding company VT Group has been contracted to build and manage three Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs), including associated training and long-term maintenance support, for Trinidad and Tobago. The programme, which was part of a proposal
from the Government of the United Kingdom and VT Group to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, is valued at more than £150 million. Contracts were signed in Trinidad on 5 April. Design work will start immediately on
the 90m ships, which will be used for a range of Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ) management, special operations, and maritime law enforcement tasks. They will be operated by the Trinidad and Tobago Coastguard and the first ship will be handed over in 2009. The contract will sustain around 200 skilled
jobs and create a further 100 new positions at VT's Portsmouth Naval Base shipbuilding facility. VT Chief Executive Paul Lester said: ‘The
programme will give additional long term visibility to the order book of our shipbuilding business and is a further notable export success for VT following our contract in Oman. We anticipate that production will start at Portsmouth in autumn 2007.’
Rolls-Royce to power new US Navy destroyer
Rolls-Royce has been selected to supply the US Navy’s most advanced surface combatant - the DDG-1000 - with the world’s most powerful marine gas turbine. Four MT30 gas turbine generator sets will
be supplied for two DDG-1000 Zumwalt class destroyers, with deliveries of the 36MW MT30 sets to begin in 2009. A MT30 generator set currently provides
power to the US Navy’s DDG-1000 Land Based Test Site in Philadelphia, and the MT30 has also been selected to power the first two Lockheed Martin Littoral Combat Ships (LCS). The MT30 is a proven member of the Rolls-
Royce Trent aero engine family, which has accumulated over 20 million operating hours, powering passenger aircraft in service with more than 60 airlines and operators.
The MT30 has now been selected for the LCS and DDG-1000 programmes.
The DGA has taken delivery of Tonnerre, sister vessel to BPC Mistral, shown here.
Tonnerre, which was built by naval defence group DCN. The important milestone will be followed by formal handover to the French Navy. On 14 February, BPC Tonnerre left Brest for
Toulon, where the combat system installed in the vessel was due to undergo a final series of tests. The vessel was handed over to the DGA later
than originally planned when non-conformities attributed to shipyard Chantiers de l’Atlantique and its sub-contractors were discovered in the accommodation area floors. The repairs resulted in a significant delay.
2 Artist’s impression of the ships VT is to build for Trinidad and Tobago.
The ships are scheduled to be built at Northrop
Grumman Ship Systems in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. The first ship delivery is planned for 2012. The DDG-1000 is designed for a variety of
missions, including land attack and battle space dominance. The MT30 generator sets will be assembled in the US. Rated at 36MW for a Navy Standard Day, the
MT30 is available for both generator set and mechanical drive applications. The DDG-1000 programme was previously known as DD(X).
DGA takes delivery of BPC Tonnerre
On 28 February, the French defence procurement agency DGA took delivery of the BPC force projection and command vessel
Formal delivery means that ownership of
Tonnerre has been transferred to the DGA prior to handover to the French Navy. DCN designed and built Tonnere and its sister ship,Mistral. The 199m-long Tonnerre has a displacement of
21,000tonnes, a speed of 19knots, and sufficient endurance and range for global force projection. A typical payload might comprise 450 troops, 16 heavy helicopters, two hovercraft, and four LCM landing craft or one-third of a mechanised regiment, complete with armoured vehicles (1000tonnes). The design includes electric propulsion using
azimuthing pods and high-level automation, compatible with a complement of just 160. The class offers ample capacity as a hospital ship and for large-scale humanitarian evacuation missions. A high-performance communications suite makes the ship ideal as a command vessel.
BMT launches SAR training device
BMT Cordah Ltd – a subsidiary of BMT Ltd – has become the first UK private sector company to offer a Maritime Search Planning (SP) training course to advise the industry and public-funded SAR organisations on how to cope with real life SAR scenarios. BMT draws upon over 10 years’ experience in
the SAR market as well as over eighteen years’ service with the UK Coastguard. The course will use BMT’s own highly
successful software package, the Search and Rescue Information System (SARIS), to provide expertise on strategy, planning, and competence, by working through a mixture of practical and theoretical exercises. SARIS was developed in 1996, in conjunction
with the UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA), to enable the drift modelling of vessels, objects, and survivors at sea, following a maritime accident. The software is in use around the world by organisations ranging from the Royal Navy to the Hong Kong Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC). A first, five day, training course was held on 19
February with delegates attending from the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), the Royal Danish Navy, and the Belgian Air Force, amongst others. This course focused on Search
WARSHIP TECHNOLOGY MAY 2007
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