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official online DSEI daily
janes.com/dsei
GCS build gains pace
BAE Systems Naval Ships is moving forward with the manufacture phase of the
Royal Navy’s Type 26 Global Combat Ship programme, with production now under way
on the second of the planned eight-ship City-class vessels. Meanwhile, engineering
work is ramping up on design derivatives selected to meet the future needs of Australia and Canada. Both variants build on the RN’s Type 26 platform baseline, but have been modified to accept alternative combat systems based on local preferences/requirements, and will be built in-country. Intended to replace eight anti-submarine warfare (ASW)-configured Type 23 frigates from the mid-2020s, the 6,900-tonne displacement Type 26 has been conceived as an acoustically quiet surface combatant optimised for ASW operations. Within the RN’s future fleet structure,
Unmanned Pacific RIB RICHARD SCOTT BAE Systems is demonstrating the integration of an unmanned, autonomous version of its Pacific 24 Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) with the combat system of the Royal Navy (RN) Type 23 frigate HMS Argyll. The manned version of the 7.5m Pacific 24 Mk 4 RIB is already deployed fleetwide with
the RN as the service’s standard sea boat. BAE Systems’ Portsmouth-based Maritime Services business has over the past three years invested in a programme of development and demonstration using a 9.5m P950 RIB as a testbed to prove technologies applicable to an autonomous Pacific 24. At 7.8m long, the Pacific 24 has a top speed of 38kt and can operate for up to 45 hours
at patrol speed, or 100 nautical miles in pursuit mode, while being controlled remotely or operating autonomously. Its integration with an active warship has potential applications across a range of missions, including anti-piracy, border control, intelligence gathering, maritime security and force protection. At the show, technologists from BAE Systems, in
collaboration with the RN, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and autonomous systems supplier L3Harris, are demonstrating the potential to make naval
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