Royal Navy’s warships to receive CMS and network upgrades under new £285M deal

BAE Systems has been awarded a £285 million ($354 million) contract by the UK Ministry of Defense (UK MoD) to support the Royal Navy’s shared infrastructure, combat management systems (CMS), and warship networks.

As disclosed, the contract award builds on 13 years of collaboration with the Royal Navy in which the BAE Systems’ CMS is used across a wide range of naval assets.

The agreement is a part of the RECODE program, an eight-year initiative designed to ensure the Royal Navy’s fleet remains fully equipped and prepared to meet emerging military challenges.

According to the officials, the program aims to meet “the Royal Navy’s future operational needs”.

The core elements of RECODE include: 

• Maintaining high levels of safety, security, and availability of combat systems across 20 Royal Navy ships. Architectural and capability changes will be delivered directly to the fleet to keep pace with the operational tempo.
• Delivering BAE Systems’ CMS on the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers, Type 45 destroyers, and Type 26 frigates. The whole RECODE enterprise will adopt the engineering principles of DevSecOps1, with security integrated at every phase of the software development and operational lifecycle.
• A new collaborative working philosophy with DE&S Maritime Combat Systems and Navy Command, which will mean closer working, joint decision-making, and increased communication and collaboration between both parties.

“RECODE represents a huge stride forward in our partnership with the Royal Navy and will help to realise warfare capability of the future. The global threat picture, advances in commercial technology and the immense volume of data available to crews means we need to become even more ambitious and far-reaching in our services and support. We are excited and privileged to secure this programme that will sit at the heart of the Navy’s ambition to be a protean force,” Steve Carter, Naval Ships Combat Systems Director, BAE Systems, said.

“We are pleased to announce that this essential programme is underway to sustain the current Combat Management Systems on board in-service Royal Navy vessels, to enhance their capability and make them fit for the future. This new programme will take on proactive management of obsolescence, ensuring that at its core it is evergreen, robust and flexible,” Commodore Phil Game, Interim Director of Sense, Decide and Communicate, DE&S, added.

“Today’s challenging landscape means we must adapt and evolve at pace. Agility is at the heart of the programme in three ways – equipment to maintain our capability, process so we can adapt that capability at the pace of relevance and a mindset to ensure we deliver. Those are the key facets that will enable the military advantage our crews are relying on,” Kevin Miller, Combat Systems Design Authority and Surface Ships Combat Systems Group Team Leader, Royal Navy, concluded.

Earlier on, BAE Systems revealed that it has received a contract to upgrade Mk 45 5-inch naval gun systems and ancillary equipment for the US Navy.