Rolls-Royce has selected QinetiQ GRC’s Paramarine advanced marine design software to boost the capabilities of its newly formed naval ship designs development team.

The newly formed ship design development team will create designs that primarily focus on offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) and naval auxiliary opportunities for navies, coastguards and other maritime agencies.

Rolls-Royce Naval Ship Design capability manager Peter MacLeod said that the Paramarine software had been selected due to its extensive and proven capabilities in supporting naval ship design.

"Rolls-Royce were looking for a software tool that would be able to speed up the whole process of early stage ship design."

QinetiQ GRC managing director Vittorio Vagliani added: "Rolls-Royce were looking for a software tool that would be able to speed up the whole process of early stage ship design, whilst mitigating risk as their intention is to develop new projects from scratch in short timeframes."

The fully integrated platform is used to design and analyse new build submarines and surface ships and has two onboard loading computer variants, Seagoing and SeaWeigh.

See Also:

Seagoing will be used by personnel to assist in making informed decisions about the vessel’s stability, structural integrity and operation, while SeaWeigh is suitable for ships with large variable loads including landing platform docks, Ro-Ro vessels and passenger ferries.

As an easy-to-use, fully integrated naval architecture design and analysis software product, Paramarine is built on a modern platform to support and handle the complexities of both ship and submarine.

The system features a unique and integrated set of tools, which address concept design, performance prediction, strength and structures, radar cross section, powering, manoeuvring, endurance, sea-keeping, vulnerability and production design.

Using a functional building block approach for advanced marine design, Paramarine enables 3D layout for designers of warships to rapidly define their concept design and assess the weight and space balance.

The software is also used by BAE Systems for Astute-class submarines, Type 45 Royal Navy ships, and the new aircraft carrier programmes.