Babcock Team 31 has unveiled Arrowhead 140 as its design for the Ministry of Defence’s new £1.25 billion Type 31e general purpose light frigate programme.
Launching the new platform, ‘Team 31’ – led by Babcock and including Thales, OMT, BMT, Harland and Wolff and Ferguson Marine – underlined the vessel’s established, ‘at sea’ design baseline which can be developed to meet global requirements.
With UK engineering at its core, and developing OMT’s Iver Huitfeldt hull form currently in-service for the Royal Danish Navy, Arrowhead 140 will lower programme risks through its baseline design and is engineered to minimise through-life costs whilst delivering a leading edge frigate.
At almost 140m, the platform will optimise operational flexibility. The ‘wide beam’ vessel is easier to design, build and maintain due to its slightly larger size. It will also come equipped with iFrigate technology built in to provide digitally enabled through life support, it offers extensive value for money – all within the same budget.
With extensive procurement required throughout the lifetime of the project, opportunities predominantly for UK based small to medium sized enterprises will be available to help to meet time, costs and quality standards.
Craig Lockhart, Babcock’s Managing Director, Naval Marine said: “Arrowhead 140 is a proven, capable, and adaptable general purpose frigate design that, if selected, will meet the UK Royal Navy’s and global customers’ expectations both now and in the future.
“Arrowhead 140 will provide increased survivability, operability and capability – compared to a standard 120m design. When you consider that this ship can be delivered at no extra cost and that it will support improved radar performance, increase platform stability and facilitate better helicopter operations in bad weather, whilst enhancing crew comfort – we believe it will bring a significant edge to modern naval capability.”
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