Thales inks $2B deal to improve British Royal Navy’s maintenance

LONDON — Thales has signed a 15-year deal with the U.K. to use artificial intelligence and virtual reality to improve maintenance of the Royal Navy’s fleet, the Defence Ministry announced.

The £1.8 billion (U.S. $2.3 billion) contract with the French-based company’s U.K. arm got underway Jan. 1 but was only revealed Feb. 2 during a visit by British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps to the Devonport naval base in southwest England.

The support program will see Thales use data technology, including AI and virtual reality, to provide more proactive and predictive maintenance, replacing a more traditional engineering repair service the company previously ran with the Royal Navy.

Known as the Maritime Sensor Enhancement Team, the effort will see Thales support sonar systems, periscopes, masts and electronic warfare equipment deployed on existing and under-construction vessels across the surface and submarine fleets. In almost all cases, Thales is the original supplier of the equipment.

The contract is part of a wider drive by the Royal Navy to maximize the availability of its fleet during a time of increasing maritime demand in places like the Red Sea .

Thales said the new predictive model is more advantageous than the old approach of reacting when problems emerge.

“Over the life of the contract, it will deliver an average reduction in Turn Around Times of 100 days per repair, spares lead times will be reduced by an average of 44 days and reliability improved by 10%.,” Thales said in a statement.

Alex Cresswell, CEO of Thales UK, said the contract “will help keep more Royal Navy ships at sea for longer, by harnessing the latest developments in artificial intelligence, data analysis and improved dockland facilities.

The contract also involves improvements to waterfront facilities at major naval bases in Devonport and Portsmouth in England; Faslane in Scotland; and in Bahrain where the Royal Navy has a permanent base.

The Defence Ministry announced in November efforts to improve infrastructure at Devonport with £750 million in funding. That district is, among other things, home to Britain’s only nuclear submarine repair facility.

Andrew Chuter is the United Kingdom correspondent for Defense News.

伦敦——英国国防部宣布，泰雷兹公司与英国签署了一项为期 15 年的协议，利用人工智能和虚拟现实技术来改善英国皇家海军舰队的维护工作。

与这家法国公司英国分公司签订的价值 18 亿英镑（23 亿美元）的合同于 1 月 1 日开始执行，但直到 2 月 2 日英国国防大臣格兰特·沙普斯访问英格兰西南部德文波特海军基地时才被披露。

这项支持计划将使泰雷兹公司利用数据技术（包括人工智能和虚拟现实）提供更积极主动的预测性维护，取代该公司之前与英国皇家海军合作开展的更传统的工程维修服务。

这项名为“海上传感器增强团队”的工作将由泰雷兹公司负责，旨在为现役和在建水面舰艇和潜艇上的声呐系统、潜望镜、桅杆和电子战设备提供支持。几乎所有情况下，泰雷兹都是这些设备的原始供应商。

该合同是英国皇家海军为在红海等海域海上需求不断增长的时期最大限度地提高舰队可用性而采取的更广泛举措的一部分。

泰雷兹公司表示，新的预测模型比以往在问题出现时才做出反应的方法更有优势。

泰雷兹在一份声明中表示：“在合同有效期内，平均每次维修的周转时间将缩短 100 天，备件交货时间平均缩短 44 天，可靠性将提高 10%。”

泰雷兹英国公司首席执行官亚历克斯·克雷斯韦尔表示，该合同“将利用人工智能、数据分析和改进的码头设施方面的最新发展，帮助更多皇家海军舰艇在海上航行更长时间。

该合同还包括改善英格兰德文波特和朴茨茅斯、苏格兰法斯莱恩以及皇家海军在巴林设有永久基地的主要海军基地的滨水设施。

英国国防部于11月宣布，将拨款7.5亿英镑用于改善德文波特的基建设施。该地区拥有英国唯一的核潜艇维修设施等重要设施。

Andrew Chuter 是《防务新闻》的英国记者。