Rolls Royce Chosen To Supply Type 26 Frigate Engines

BAE systems has selected Rolls Royce with three others as a key suppliers for the Royal Navy’s Type 26 frigate program at the DSEi defense 2013 show.

Rolls-Royce will supply its MT30 gas turbine, with MTU responsible for the diesel engines and David Brown the gear box. Rohde & Schwarz will provide the ships integrated communications system, according to Defense News.

The Rolls-Royce MT30 engine has also been chosen for Royal Navy’s two new 65,000 ton aircraft carriers now under construction.

There are about 70 competitions for Type 26 systems. Final supplier selection for major items will be completed in 2014, the report said.

BAE systems also revealed a number of design changes to the 6,000-ton warship. The most significant of those was a switch of the mission bay from the stern of the vessel to a position just behind the helicopter hangar, the report added.

The Royal Navy is planning to buy 13 Type 26’s with the first of the new warships expected to start replacing the current Type 23 fleet in the early 2020s.