Rolls-Royce announced that its Mission Bay Handling System (MBHS) has been selected for Batch 2 of the UK Royal Navy’s Type 26 City-class frigate.
The contract, signed with programme prime BAE Systems Surface Ships Limited, is for five MBHSs to be manufactured at Rolls-Royce’s Canadian Naval Handling Centre of Excellence in Peterborough, Ontario.
The MBHS converts a ship’s mission bay into a versatile and adaptable area, enabling it to respond effectively to diverse operational scenarios. This innovation provides ship operators with numerous options, including the storage of various cargo types, munitions, and containerized mission modules, thereby removing the necessity for a dockside crane. The hydraulic boom, which is precisely controlled, will reliably and safely launch and recover both manned and unmanned surface vessels, even in demanding sea conditions up to sea state 6.
Jessica Banks, Programme Executive – Naval Handling Systems for Rolls-Royce Defence, said:
“This is a huge win for Rolls-Royce in Canada and our team in Peterborough. Our Mission Bay Handling System is perfectly designed for modern naval operations, providing adaptable and flexible integration solutions suitable for a wide range of activities. Rolls-Royce is proud to bring this mission critical capability to the Type 26 programme and is committed to delivering for the UK Royal Navy.”
Ian Brown, Defence Equipment and Support, UK Ministry of Defence said: “Having been personally involved in the Mission Bay Handling System aspect of this programme from the beginning, it is a great achievement to get to this point. We have a superb piece of equipment unique to the UK Royal Navy that will significantly strengthen our capability. There has been a lot of effort and collaboration and the network this has brought together has been invaluable. I look forward to the future of installing and working on HMS Glasgow, then handing over to the Navy to prove its full capabilities and functionality.”
Rolls Royce stated that this new contract brings the total number of MBHSs awarded for the Type 26 programme to eight, as the company was previously selected for three in the UK Royal Navy’s initial batch of frigates. The first complete system is scheduled for delivery later this summer.
