Thales wins contract for UK submarine engineering support

Thales UK has been awarded a three-year contract by the UK Min­istry of Defence (MoD) to continue its provision of specialised engineering support to the Royal Navy’s (RN’s) submarine fleet. For the last six years Thales UK’s Special Acoustic and Communication Products (SACP) group at Templecombe has been running the support contract for the UK submarine fleet’s UHF satellite communication system. This contract was due for renewal this year and its award to Thales by the MoD is based on the excellent service previously provided bythe underwater systems team. The contract will provide support to the fleet on a world-wide, ‘24/7’-availability basis. To support the work, specialised engineering and communication facilities have been established at the Somerset site. Ed Lowe, Managing Director of Thales UK’s naval business, says: “This excellent news resulted from the high level of satisfaction provided on previous contracts. We are pleased the customer wants to continue working with our underwater systems business”. He adds: “As well as sustaining jobs at Templecombe in Somerset, the award of this contract demonstrates the customer's recognition of the communication systems capability within the team". “This capability enabled the SACP group to become a keymember of the team that has just won the competitive tender to supply a new external communications system for the Astute-class submarine”. At its Templecombe site, Thales UK has been developing mast antenna technology for 20 years, including products for all types of RN submarine platform and also for foreign navies, and has expanded to surface ship and land mobile systems for worldwide customers.