Umoe Mandal to supply key components for Royal Navy’s Type 26 frigates

Shipbuilding company Umoe Mandal has secured a new contract to deliver critical components for the British Royal Navy’s Type 26 Global Combat Ships.

The deal will see the company deliver three shipsets of composite mast and SCOT Sponsons structures for integration on-board the navy’s frigates.

Umoe Mandal chief executive officer Tom Harald Svennevig said: “This contract further strengthens Umoe Mandal’s long-standing partnership with BAE Systems, to whom we have delivered close to 80 gun cupolas since 1998.

“We are honoured to have been once again selected as the preferred supplier of critical ship structures amongst a group of highly reputable international contractors that have contended to participate in this programme.”

The integrated packages of mast and SCOT Sponsons structures are set to be produced at the company’s highly specialised manufacturing sites.

Umoe Mandal’s facilities are used for the development high-performance commercial and navy ships, in addition to advanced components made from composite materials.

The company is currently slated to deliver the first shipset during the final quarter of 2019.

The Type 26 Global Combat Ship programme is being led by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) and BAE Systems.

It is intended to provide the navy with a highly capable and versatile multi-mission warship.

The Type 26 ships have been developed and manufactured by BAE to replace the navy’s current Type 23 frigates.

They are expected to help support anti-submarine warfare (ASW), air defence, general purpose and humanitarian assistance operations.

The first 149.9m-long Global Combat Ship is scheduled to enter service in the 2020s.

The vessel features a displacement of 6,900t and can travel at a top speed of more than 26k.

It possesses a range in excess of 7,000 nautical miles (nm) in electric-motor (EM) drive configuration.