BMT Defence Services - Naval Platform Design and Maintenance

BMT Defence Services is the leading independent centre of excellence for naval design and through-life support in Europe. The company has platform design expertise in surface warships, submarines and auxiliaries. A wide range of government and industry customers rely on BMT Defence Services for its systems engineering and information systems expertise.

Naval platform design and warship upgrading

BMT's designers and engineers have the flexibility and capability to undertake the complete design and assurance of whole new naval platforms, even down to the introduction of design changes to existing in-service naval vessels during refit.

BMT's staff are motivated, experienced and create innovative solutions. Innovation is not an end in itself but is applied to deliver tangible benefits and is grounded firmly in long experience of designing updates and upgrades to existing warships.

The disciplines exercised by BMT's staff include naval architecture; marine, systems, structural and electrical engineering; software development; design assurance; safety and environmental compliance; and all aspects of risk and project management.

BMT is experienced in solution space engineering (the trading-off of performance against timescales and whole-life cost estimation). BMT gets involved early in the development of a naval programme, continuing to deliver its expertise through subsequent phases of ever more detailed design.

BMT is independent of equipment and sub-system manufacturers, ship builders, and prime contractors. It does not manufacture products, but is often involved during the manufacturing phase of defence acquisition programmes, assuring the maintenance of design intent throughout production design and execution.

In-service support and platform disposal

BMT's involvement in naval procurement continues throughout a ship's life. The company is a partner in a number of support alliances, including the Submarine Support Management Group (SSMG), which is employed by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to maintain, update and upgrade the Swiftsure, Trafalgar and Vanguard class submarines so that they operate safely and capably at sea.

The company delivers naval authority, documentation and combat systems configuration management, and safety and environmental consultancy services to defence agencies to help them keep their naval fleets operating effectively through, and to dispose of them properly at the end of, a platform's life.

Warship, submarine and auxiliary design

Whether working for the prime contractor or as a customer friend to the procurement agency, BMT has many years of experience in innovative design and support of Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) vessels; both with regard to in-service ships like RFA ARGUS, and forthcoming platforms such as the future RN aircraft carrier (CVF/Queen Elizabeth Class), Type 45 anti-air-destroyer and Astute attack submarine.

BMT provides advice to the defence agencies and industries of other countries too: for instance, the company has advised French industry and the Australian, Turkish and Canadian governments. BMT is actively engaged in research and developing new design concepts, including ocean-going conventional submarines, amphibious warfare vessels and auxiliaries.

Framework agreement for technical support

UK government customers may contract with BMT through the MoD's Framework Agreement for Technical Support (FATS). Contact Richard Danns to learn more.

About BMT Defence Services

BMT Defence Services is based in Bath, Fareham and Weymouth in the United Kingdom, and employs over 200 design and engineering professionals and support staff.

The company is a subsidiary of BMT Group, an international design engineering and risk management consultancy working principally in the defence, energy and environment, marine risk and insurance, maritime transport and ports and logistics sectors.

BMT Group invests significantly in research, serving its customers through a network of international subsidiaries. Its independence is guaranteed by its assets being held in beneficial ownership for its staff.