Non-Subscriber Extract
BAE Systems team offers Korean-built tanker to UK
By Richard Scott
20 February 2008
BAE Systems has teamed with UK naval architecture and systems engineering group BMT Defence Services and South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) to bid for the design and construction of up to six Fleet Tankers for the UK Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA).
The Fleet Tanker acquisition, valued at GBP800 million (USD1.5 billion), forms the first phase of the UK's GBP2.5 billion Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (MARS) programme. Later phases of the MARS project include the acquisition of two new Fleet Support Ships and three Joint Sea-Based Logistic vessels.
An advertisement placed in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) on 12 December 2007 requested interested parties to complete a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) for return no later than 15 February.
Confirming that it had submitted its response to the Fleet Tanker PQQ, BAE Systems said it would act as lead contractor and programme manager. BMT will be the design partner and the vessels themselves would be built by DSME in South Korea.
Image: A computer-generated image of the Fleet Tanker proposed for the RFA, carrying out a replenishment at sea with a Type 45 ship (BMT)