HMS FORTH Royal Navy River Class Batch 2 OPV Navigation and Communications outfit.
Deliveries are well underway for the navigation and communications outfit on the Royal Navy's latest addition to the fleet - 3 offshore patrol vessels currently in build at the BAE Systems Naval Ships Govan and Scotstoun facilities.
These ships are a hybrid evolution of the RN's current River Class OPV's (which have been in service for over a decade now) and the Brazilian Navy Amazonas Class. The batch 2 River Class as they are now known will be named HMS Forth, HMS Medway and HMS Trent and will enter service from 2017.
The 90 metre, 2,000 tons vessels will play a key role in protecting UK interests both at home and abroad. With a maximum speed of 24 knots, a range of over 5,000 nautical miles and helicopter landing capability, the ships will be globally deployable and capable of ocean patrol.
Significant navigation equipment includes the Kelvin Hughes Sharpeye solid state radars and the OSI ECPINS (WECDIS) and WAIS outfit. MES has fitted Kelvin Hughes radars to all previous RN OPV's both from build and during a recent Mid-Life Update in the case of the Batch 1 River Class. The naval software embedded in the COTS hardware provides an attractive level of military functionality and allows the benefits of the Sharpeye radar to be fully realised. MES has previously supplied the OSI ECPINS ECDIS to 6 classes of MoD vessels/craft and the original Amazonas OPVs. On Batch 2 both navigation radars and WECDIS/WAIS systems have been integrated with the MES NDACS (Navigation Distribution And Conning System) which, as well and providing centralised sensor distribution and instrumentation, also manages multifunction workstation operation around the vessel.
The military communications outfit will be provided by Rhode & Schwarz to provide commonality with other RN OPVs. MES will also provide the full internal communications outfit including PABX, PAGA, open-line communications and wire free communications.