The
UK Ministry of Defence has awarded us a contract worth £1.2bn
for Audacious, the fourth submarine in the Astute class. The full contract
covers the design, build, test and commissioning programme. First steel
was cut in 2007 and Audacious is at an advanced stage of construction
at BAE Systems’ site in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.
BAE Systems Maritime – Submarines Managing Director John Hudson
said: “This is a very significant milestone for the company as
it provides increased stability for the remainder of the programme.
“More than 5,000 people are employed at Submarines with
over half of these directly involved in the Astute programme, many in
highly skilled, specialist positions, so today’s announcement
is hugely welcomed.
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“The Astute class will deliver to the Royal
Navy a fantastic attack submarine capability and both HMS Astute and
Ambush are currently demonstrating this while on their sea trials. Audacious,
and the rest of the submarines in the Astute class, will eventually
complement those already at sea.”
The MoD also confirmed today that a further £1.5bn has been committed
to the Astute programme for the remaining three submarines in the class,
which includes early build work on boat 5, Anson, whose keel was laid
in October, 2011.
Audacious will include a number of design changes to the first three
submarines in the Astute class. Most relate to the submarine’s
combat system – primarily its command, navigation and sonar systems.
For the first time on a Royal Navy submarine this will use a shared
computer environment for the different systems, common consoles and
cabinets, and “commercial off-the-shelf” hard and software.
They will make the system more cost effective and easier to maintain
and update.
These changes are due to be implemented on the remaining submarines
in the class, and have been back-fitted to Boat 3, Artful. The eventual
aim is to back-fit the “Common Combat System” to HMS Astute
and Ambush, and progressively to the rest of the Royal Navy submarine
fleet.
Audacious, the fourth of a planned class of seven submarines, is nearly
half way through its build programme with all of its pressure hull units
now assembled in our main construction hall, awaiting full combination.
The 97m-long Astute class submarines boast a range of world class capabilities.
Powered by a sophisticated nuclear propulsion system, the reactor never
needs refuelling. The sonar system has the processing power of 2,000
laptops and can track ships 3,000 miles away. Armed with both Tomahawk
land attack missiles and Spearfish torpedoes, its missiles have a target
range of 1,200 miles with accuracy measured in metres.
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