BMT’s VENATOR®-110, widely considered as a strong contender for the Type 31e frigates, will take centre stage at DSEI in London next week, following the much-anticipated launch of the UK’s National Shipbuilding Strategy this week.

Muir Macdonald, Managing Director at BMT Defence Services comments: “The government’s advisor, Sir John Parker, identified the challenge of coming up with a world-leading design that can satisfy the needs of the Royal Navy and the export market.  This is just the challenge BMT likes and we have been anticipating the T31e for some time.  Our experience of winning many design competitions gives us a depth of knowledge, from the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier and TIDE Class tankers for the UK, to the Logistics Support Vessel for the Royal Norwegian Navy.  We believe we can achieve a world-leading, credible design that delivers an optimum balance of warfighting capability and survivability with cost.”

A flexible and tailorable modern warship, able to provide a breadth of credible capability from maritime security to warfighting, worldwide, at an affordable procurement cost, the VENATOR-110 Frigate design is also gaining traction through several overseas opportunities such as the US FFG(X) and Colombian PES programmes.

VENATOR-110 is a standard platform with a flexible/modular approach enabling different customers to have a ‘menu of choice’.  It is also a design configured for ‘block-build’ enabling different parts to be built in different shipyards.

Muir continues: “We have considered a spectrum of military specifications, needs and budgets, core design principles, through-life spiral development and, importantly, construction strategies, to make VENATOR-110 one of the most credible Type 31e platforms in the market.

Promoting an enterprise approach to ship design and shipbuilding is something we welcome, and is already fundamental to our approach here at BMT.  We have been actively investing in building strong relationships across the entire industry; from shipbuilders to lead integrators, systems suppliers and other designers, we’ve been adapting to deliver the best possible solutions for our customers.”