SEA wins contract extension to support Royal Navy’s submarines

Systems Engineering & Assessment’s (SEA) Naval Systems Integration Process Service (NSIPS) contract has been extended to include support for the configuration management of the combat systems for all Royal Navy in-service submarines.

Two additional tasks have also been requested by the Maritime Combat Systems (MCS) Integration Authority, encompassing support to the Royal Navy’s complex warships and in-service submarines.

The Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA) entered into the contract in March 2022 and the activity, which is due to be completed later this year, includes:

• Configuration management of the in-service submarine’s combat systems, which includes an update to submarine platforms, a forecast for future updates and all associated equipment authorities.
• Changes to the ship fit definition, which will see SEA update and action all changes within the NSIPS database, GRIFFIN, that have been made to in-service submarines during the contract’s gap in-service.
• Codification requests for updates to existing combat systems and/or requests for new equipment. This ensures new equipment, and its associated interfaces, are configured and managed in accordance with Defence Standard 08-217 – Naval Combat System Configuration Management.

SEA has already worked on upgrading and maintaining combat systems for both in-service submarines and complex warships.

Richard Flitton, Managing Director at SEA, said: “This contract extension clearly demonstrates our ability to meet evolving requirements and needs across the maritime domain, and the expertise SEA has delivered to the NSIPS so far.

As part of the additional tasks requested by the MCS Integration Authority, SEA is undertaking a stakeholder-led update to the GRIFFIN database.

This has seen the stakeholder community offer suggestions for how GRIFFIN could be improved, and SEA has used the feedback to deliver a more automated and less labour-intensive upgrade for the MCS Integration Authority.

A second task will see SEA prepare to bring the Type 45 destroyers and Queen Elizabeth-class carriers into the scope of the NSIPS contract and provide full support for the platforms moving forward.

To remind, in May this year, SEA completed a series of operational demonstrations of its anti-submarine warfare (ASW) solution aboard MSubs’ extra large uncrewed undersea vehicle (XLUUV) platform.