MANAGEMENT ON THE MOVE
LOCATIONS
16 Dec 08. Campbeltown docks down at Rosyth for refit. Type 22 frigate HMS Campbeltown has docked down at Babcock’s Rosyth facility for a year long multi-million pound refit. This is the first Type 22 refit ahead of the Surface Ship Support (SSS) contract that will be documented in accordance with the forthcoming Class Output Manager (COM) requirements. The specification for the refit on Campbeltown, the first Type 22 refit at Rosyth for 13 years, has been jointly developed by Babcock’s Devonport (Campbeltown’s base port) and Rosyth teams, building on Devonport’s experience and knowledge of the vessel, within the MoD’s affordability parameters. Having returned from the Gulf earlier this year, Campbeltown has undergone pre-refit trials and assessments over the last two months. Work to be undertaken during the refit encompasses weapons systems upgrades and machinery as well as essential maintenance that can only be conducted in dry-dock. It will include installation of the Defence Information Infrastructure (DII); fit of a 4.5 Mk8 Mod1 gun; renewal of the Tracker system for the Sea Wolf Missile System; and upkeep of the Goalkeeper gun system. It will also involve habitability upgrades. Additionally, Campbeltown will receive the Type 22 Structural Enhancement For Life, installation of electrically powered reverse osmosis plants, and upkeep of propellers and diesel generators, as well as renewal of the hull coatings with the new anti-foul release paint system (which improves speed and fuel economy). A structural survey to bring the vessel under Lloyd’s Register classification will also be undertaken. Babcock will be documenting all survey reports, documentation changes, and contract variations on Campbeltown during this refit, using the Collaborative Working Environment (CWE) – a web-enabled shared data environment developed by Babcock and now utilised by some 2,500 users across the MoD and industry. This marks a valuable preparatory stage in the effective through-life class management of the Type 22 frigates, providing essential detailed knowledge and documentation of the material state of the vessel, which will be available to all stakeholders and is an essential tool in planning and managing in-service support. Babcock is to lead the Type 22 class frigates’ Class Output Manager (COM)1 role with responsibility for the through-life management of the four Type 22 frigates, including HMS Campbeltown, when implementation of the Surface Ship Support (SSS) programme commences in 2009. Works is currently underway on HMS Campbeltown and the refit is scheduled to be completed in November 2009.
12 Dec 08. Developers walking away. Sources close to BATTLESPACE tell us that developers approached by Defence Estates to develop surplus MoD land are walking away in droves from proposed housing developments due to the present crisis. This will cause a big hole in projected income from this source for the MoD. This has affected the DTR (See below).
10 Dec 08. The £12bn plan to centralise the UK military’s training programme has suffered another setback following the withdrawal of the property company Land Securities from the consortium picked to take forward the project at the beginning of last year. The Defence Training Review (DTR), the UK’s largest private finance initiative, will centralise all non-military technical training for army, navy and air force personnel in one academy at St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan. The government awarded the contract to build and run the new defence academy to the Metrix consortium, a joint venture between Qinetiq and Land Securities’ outsourcing arm, Trillium. On Wednesday, Qinetiq told the government that Land Securities had withdrawn from the process. Land Securities has spent about £20m so far and is reluctant to keep funding the project in the face of significantly increased costs over the next 18 months. Qinetiq, the defence research group that is the lead