Thales Wins UK Contract Support Worth $906 Million

Thales has signed a 10-year deal with the UK Defense to provide service support to 17 major sensor systems carried onboard Royal Navy submarines and surface warships.

The Sensors Support Optimisation Project (SSOP) deal could be worth up to £600 million (US $906 million) over the period of the contract, Thales UK official said.

In a statement May 28, the UK MoD said it’s expecting the estimates of the new arrangements to save about £140 million over the 10-year period.

A company spokesman said the savings amount to around 18 percent compared to the previous contractual arrangements to maintain and repair Royal Navy optronics, electronic warfare and periscope systems.

Under the SSOP, the arrangement also will include all nuclear submarine visual systems, including periscopes for the Vanguard- and Trafalgar-class boats, and the nonhull-penetrating optronic masts for the new Astute submarines.

The submarine visual systems’ work was previously undertaken by Thales, but under a separate contract.