UK Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) has contracted Thales to maintain and enhance the Royal Navy warship and submarine fleet’s communications systems.
The ten-year contract, valued at £250m ($312.20m), is known as the Maritime Communications Capability Support (MCCS).
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It will see internal and external fleet communications upgrades and provide global 24/7 support operations aboard the Royal Navy’s warships and submarines.
The MCCS agreement supersedes the previous seven-year Fleetwide Communications contract managed by Thales UK.
This is expected to save up to £30m in lifecycle costs while securing around 100 jobs across various Thales UK locations in Portsmouth, Plymouth, Crawley, Reading, and Bristol.
This aligns with the forthcoming Defence Industrial Strategy, which aims to drive investment into UK businesses and bolster defence employment across the country.
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By GlobalDataDE&S Sense Decide & Communicate director Phil Game said: “First and foremost, this announcement ensures the Royal Navy continues to have effective and secure communications equipment with continuous support from Thales, which has Europe’s largest team of marine communications engineers, supporting its vital work keeping the UK and our allies safe.
“Crucially, we have looked at outcomes from other successful defence programmes and applied the lessons learned from those, in particular cutting unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy allowing Thales much more freedom to get the job done.”
Under the new contract, Thales UK will also provide “waterfront” office services, manage ageing equipment recovery, and oversee inventory to ensure spare parts are readily available and defects are promptly repaired.
The collaboration between DE&S, the Royal Navy, and Thales UK, aims to create a unified ‘one defence’ team that minimises red tape and maximises efficiency.
Thales UK CEO Phil Siveter said: “Building on seven years of trusted partnership, we are proud to provide the technical excellence and on-the-ground support that keeps ships, submarines and installations operational and mission-ready.
By working as ‘one team’ across the Naval Enterprise, we are driving innovation and systems integration to place the Royal Navy at the cutting edge of defence technology for the next decade.”
The UK has lagged behind its allies in aligning industrial strategy with current security needs. Both the US and the EU released updated defence industrial strategies, whereas the UK government has not introduced a new Defence Industrial Strategy since 2021 (DSIS21).
