Thales to support UK Royal Navy fleet communications for next 10 years

Thales UK has won a contract with the UK’s Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) agency to maintain the RN’s internal and external fleet communications and provide global 24/7 support operations for the next 10 years.

The Maritime Communications Capability Support (MCCS) deal amounts to one of the largest investments in naval communications across Europe. It has been estimated that the new contract will save the RN up to £30m (US$37 million) in through-life costs over the next decade.

Communications failures on RN vessels or at shoreside stations can risk their ability to fulfil their mission objectives, ultimately jeopardising strategic defence outcomes. That means the communication systems deployed by the RN are required to be resilient and robust.

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Thales has history in ensuring communications resilience for the RN and it previously delivered fleetwide communications services across RN vessels.

The new contract though replaces the previous fleetwide communications contract, which has been in effect for seven years to date.

The projected £30 million of savings, Thales said, will come from significant reductions in red tape, coming as a result of a new “one defence” approach. That means closer collaboration between the RN, the DE&S, and Thales UK.

Thales will be able to circumvent previous equipment replacement processes in the RN infrastructure in order to sustain communications capability long-term. No exact costs for the 10-year contract were released with the announcement of the deal.