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Something from Babcock on the Arrowhead 140, though given they were meant to be going to the 120 it's interesting that they are still promoting the 140:
babcock,future royal navy,national shipbuilding strategy,shipbuilding,type 31 frigate
The Huitfeldts are not in the same ASW class as a Type 26 and most critically their engines and machinery are not raft-mounted to reduce sound and vibration radiated into the water. There is space to allow Arrowhead to have raft-mounted machinery but this would have to be specified by the customer at the outset of construction.
That extra space for raft mounting will be significant if this is to be exported because ASW capability will be an essential requirement for most Navies.
The Telegraph is leaking that it's Babcock that will win the contract for the 31's with the Arrowhead 140 design, will be interesting to see how that plays out given the plan to block build, sadly behind a paywall:
Would anyone bother paying for the torygraph, really?
Torys?
'He died who loved to live,' they'll say,
'Unselfishly so we might have today!'
Like hell! He fought because he had to fight;
He died that's all. It was his unlucky night. http://www.salamanderoasis.org/poems...nnis/luck.html
Seeing as the Scottish government now own Ferguson, I wonder how the English will feel about Republic of Scotland made ships?
I wonder how will Harland and Wolff Belfast fare in the distribution of British Government shipbuilding contracts. They could build the N.S., MRV based on an adaption of the Danish design or any other suitable design. It would sooth some brows in NI.
Last edited by ancientmariner; 13 September 2019, 08:28.
Unfortunately H&W have the same shipbuilding capacity as VCD. A staff of about 50 was engaged dealing with wind farm and offshore ancillary works. I think Hurst Point was the last ship to be built there, and that was over a decade ago. The skillset required to build ships has moved on to other heavy engineering industry. It would take a few years to get H&W back in the shipbuilding business. Meanwhile hm govt is happy for the yard to gradually become a Titanic theme park.
Without constant refit and repair work to keep machinery fresh, it is impractical to reopen a closed yard. Babcock let appledore close, and that was far more modern than H&W, while they had potential work on their horizon.
For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.
I wonder how will Harland and Wolff Belfast fare in the distribution of British Government shipbuilding contracts. They could build the N.S., MRV based on an adaption of the Danish design or any other suitable design. It would sooth some brows in NI.
Unfortunately for both HW and Ferguson, it seems they will have to bid for blocks of work, I can't remember where I saw it, possibly the FT, but in the last 24 hours the head of Babcock was quoted as saying this, also he intimated that Camell Laird could also bid.
Some more details on the ship coming out also. A combination of Bofors 57mm Mk110 and 40mm as main and secondary armament, a huge change for the Modern RN.
national shipbuilding strategy,shipbuilding,type 31 frigate
Babcock says they are open to sharing work around the UK in line with the National Shipbuilding Strategy. Both Ferguson (Clyde) and Harland and Wolff (Belfast) were part of the original Team 31e consortium but are in poor shape. The consortium members are not guaranteed a workshare but would be allowed to bid to build blocks. Babcock insists they won’t take risks with the programme and any commercial partners would be subject to the usual financial due diligence. Cammell Laird says they are not tied exclusively to the BAE Systems Leander bid and would be open to working on Type 31.
In the era of the ‘swarm attack’ either by small boats or UAVs, light-medium calibre gunnery is back in fashion. The Type 31 will mount at least 3 modern gun systems which are well suited to dealing with multiple small targets.
The heaviest weapon will be a Bofors medium-calibre 57mm Mk 110 Mod 0 gun which is already in service with the US and several other navies. It can deliver up to 4 rounds per second and has a range of about 17km. The whole system, including 1,000 rounds weighs around 14 tonnes. This is a very different weapon to the much heavier 114mm (4.5”) Mk 8 that delivers a single shell every 2 seconds and has equipped the majority of RN frigates since the 1970s.
The Mk 110 is not optimised for supporting troops ashore but for multiple and unpredictable targets. Different ammunition types can be readily reselected, including Pre-fragmented, Programmable and Proximity-fused (3P) ammunition. It has a useful airburst mode to defend against boat swarms but could switch to defend against aircraft or missiles using proximity fuses or heavier targets using delayed action fuses. (The vast range of sophisticated modern ammunition types are a complex subject well beyond the scope of this article).
Its high rate of fire means the 57mm actually delivers a greater weight of explosive onto the target than the latest Oto Melara 76mm gun. The gun mount holds 120 rounds but can be replenished by a 3-man crew in the gun bay on the deck below.
The Type 31 will not be fitted with 20mm Phalanx CIWS but instead will mount two Bofors 40mm Mk 4 guns. These lightweight 2.3-tonne, non-deck penetrating mounts can deliver 5 rounds per second out to about 12.5km and are designed to respond rapidly at a wide range of elevations. By delivering heavier shells further away from the ship the Mk 4 is superior to Phalanx in some ways. They provide defence against air and missile attack but use the same sophisticated 3P type ammunition as the 57mm so can quickly change to engage small boat or UAV threats. 100 rounds are held in the gun ready to fire with the ability to shift between different types of ammunition.
Bofors is owned by BAE Systems so the Type 31 decision is not all bad news for the company, with an order for at least 15 gun systems and ammunition coming for manufacture in Scandinavia and the US.
For now, everything hangs on implementation of the CoDF report.
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