Babcock Announced Supply Chains of Type 31 Frigate

Babcock has announced the second round of supply chain contracts for the Royal Navy’s Type 31 Frigate programme, with Rolls Royce MTU supplying the ships main engines and diesel generators.

Last Friday, Babcock announced further supply chain details for the UK’s Type 31 frigates, based on the Danish Iver Huitfeldt frigate design, that will replace the some of the Royal Navy’s ageing Type 23 frigates.

Under this latest supply chain announcement, Babcock revealed that Rolls Royce brand MTU will build the ship’s main engines and diesel generators, Renk will supply gearboxes, and MAN energy solutions will manufacture propellers and propeller shaft lines.

Babcock has also drafted in Blunox to supply exhaust environmental equipment to reduce the ship’s emissions. Darchem Engineering is set to supply intake and exhaust systems for the main engines and generators, and Novenco will supply critical components to the ships HVAC system.

The Type 31 frigate programme is designed to deliver to the Royal Navy five flexible and affordable frigates that, alongside the BAE Systems-built Type 26, will replace the UK’s ageing fleet workhorses, the Type 23s.

While the Type 26 programme will cost £8bn for eight ships, the five Type 31s are being built for £1.25bn with cost savings being found through the reuse of existing ship design in service with the Royal Danish Navy.

The low-cost vessels were commissioned to maintain the size of the UK’s fleet while maintaining a tighter budget and are seen as a solution for operating in lower-end environments, freeing up the Type 26s for more complex missions.

Slightly smaller than the Type 26, the ships being built by Babcock will feature a Thales combat management system, and components largely derived from some companies that worked on the Danish frigate.

MTU will build the ship’s main diesel engines and generators at its facility in Germany. The company is also manufacturing the diesel generators for the Type 26 programme.

In total across both programmes, MTU will deliver a mix of at least 20 engines and 32 generators to the UK’s shipbuilding efforts.

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