The United Kingdom (U.K.) Ministry of Defence awarded Airbus a $44.7 million Maritime Network Evolution contract to cover the communications networks of 20 Royal Navy warships for upgrades over the next four years, the company said Tuesday.
The contract creates the Internet Protocol backbone of the future Maritime Architecture and extends the life of the military satcom into the middle of the next decade, Airbus said. The 20 warships covered by the contract include Type 45 Destroyers and Queen Elizabeth-class carriers.
Airbus also said this upgrade will remove obsolete equipment, remove the dependency of serial services, and allow platforms to have to ability to select their own communications bearers for operations.
“For more than a decade now we have provided the U.K. with Maritime Communications capability. With this evolution program we continue delivering the most advanced capabilities possible to the Royal Navy”, Richard Franklin, head of secure communications at Airbus Defence and Space, said in a statement.
“This program is an example of how efficient Airbus Defence and Space is working with the UK MOD to refresh existing technologies, keeping the infrastructure up to date and providing future proof and engineer enhanced solutions,” he added.