BAE awards Rolls-Royce engine contract for Type 26 warships

Rolls-Royce has won a contract from BAE Systems to supply low-emission diesel engines for the Royal Navy's new Type 26 anti-submarine warships.

Rolls-Royce's MTU subsidiary has been charged by BAE with manufacturing four diesel generators for the first three ships initially.

BAE said each Type 26 ship will require MTU diesel generators based on 20-cylinder MTU Series 4000 engines, which will provide roughly 3MW of low-emission power - enough to power around 6,000 homes.

It is the first time Rolls-Royce has supplied a naval vessel with an MTU propulsion system that meets the requirements of the IMO III emissions directive.

“The Type 26 Global Combat Ship is the first newly-designed Royal Navy surface vessel to be equipped with MTU engines and the fact that we are involved in such a leading-edge project fills us with great pride,” said Knut Müller, head of MTU governmental business.

Each of the four engines on the vessels will be fitted with an exhaust-after-treatment system, which uses a selective catalytic reduction unit to neutralise nitrogen oxide emissions.

BAE noted that this was the first Type 26 contract to be agreed since the UK Ministry of Defence announced the £472m contract extension in March, and said it has so far engaged 27 companies across the maritime supply chain to deliver the Type 26 ships, including seven firms with contracts underway to manufacture key equipment for the first three ships.

As part of its recent Strategic Defence and Security Review, the UK government has committed to buy eight Type 26 warships.