Works Starts On The 'Quietest Ship Gearbox In The World'
The company that will manufacture gearboxes for the Royal Navy’s new fleet of Type 26 Global Combat Ships opened a brand new production facility today.
David Brown Santasalo’s ‘Marine Gearing Assembly & Test Facility’ has been created solely for building the ships gears.
Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon attended the opening of the Yorkshire engineering firms new unit.
The Type 26 Global Combat Ship replaces the Type 23 frigate as the Royal Navy’s shiny new workhorse – responsible for fighting, maritime security and international engagement.
The Glasgow shipyards haven’t actually started making the ships themselves yet.
Back in July, there were rumours they’d been ‘indefinitely delayed’, which is something the government firmly denied.
It’s a huge contract for this small Yorkshire firm.
It' receives £20 million for the gear box delivery alone, and with the additional infrastructure and testing of parts it’s well over £30 million.
The MOD have committed to 8 of the anti-submarine type 26s, but are also hoping to build a lighter general purpose frigate, the Type 31 E as well.
Once the essential gear boxes roll off the production line in landlocked Huddersfield they’ll be transported all the way north to Glasgow to be added into the new vessels there and it's estimated the first ships should enter service in the early 2020s.
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