Rolls-Royce will provide long-term service support for all mtu generator sets powering the Royal Navy fleet.

Rolls-Royce business unit Power Systems and the Ministry of Defence have signed a contract covering the preventive and corrective maintenance of more than 90 mtu engines for the next five years. The contract, which is the first of its kind for Power Systems, includes an option to extend for a further two years.

  • The agreement covers preventive and corrective maintenance for 5 years with option for 2 more years
  • More than 90 mtu engines in five different types of vessels included
  • Exchange of engine data to enable optimized operations

It covers mtu generator sets of Series 183, 396 and 4000 fitted or to be fitted into a wide range of surface vessels and submarines, including Daring Class (Type 45) destroyers, Duke Class (Type 23) and City Class (Type 26) frigates, Hunt Class mine hunters and Astute Class submarines.

“Rolls-Royce will provide maintenance and repair support both on and off the vessels, provide spare parts, assist with diagnostics and commissioning, and will also deliver design solutions for the modification and improvement of components if necessary. The contract includes the sharing of engine data between the Royal Navy and Rolls-Royce. Based on its advanced digital analysis of this data, Rolls-Royce will be able to suggest through-life efficiency improvements and deliver cost savings by optimising deployment and maintenance of the vessels.”

Cdr Michael Thomson, Marine Diesel Equipment Group leader, at Defence Equipment and Support, said:

“It is our duty to deliver the optimum level of equipment availability to the Royal Navy to enable our forces to fulfil their important missions at all times. We are delighted to have placed this support contract with Rolls-Royce which will capitalise on the use of data analysis to continually improve availability and support efficiencies for our fleet of mtu engines.”

Knut Müller, Vice President Global Governmental at Rolls-Royce business unit Power Systems, said:

“This remarkable agreement gives a new dimension to our long-lasting and proven relationship with the UK MoD and establishes Rolls-Royce Power Systems as a complete solutions provider for the Royal Navy. We are proud that the Royal Navy now also puts trust in our maintenance and service capabilities, after having invested in mtu propulsion solutions for many years. With our maintenance know-how and growing digital skills we will help the Royal Navy optimize the operation of their vessels, ensuring highest availability at lower costs. The agreement may also serve as a model for other Rolls-Royce customers who are interested in optimizing the service and maintenance of their fleets powered by mtu engines.”

https://www.rolls-royce.com/media/press-releases/2022/19-10-2022-rr-provides-long-term-service-for-all-mtu-generator-sets-powering-royal-navy-vessels.aspx

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Lisa has a degree in Media & Communication from Glasgow Caledonian University and works with industry news, sifting through press releases in addition to moderating website comments.
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Ian M
Ian M
1 year ago

Good engines

Old Tony
Old Tony
1 year ago
Reply to  Ian M

Yes – but old photo

Ian M
Ian M
1 year ago
Reply to  Old Tony

Oooh!
Spotter!
👍🤣

FormerUSAF
FormerUSAF
1 year ago
Reply to  Ian M

Believe it may be possible that RR, through MTU, may be on a trajectory toward near monopoly status in terms of supplying DG sets to NATO navies.

farouk
farouk
1 year ago

Looking at the mounts for the ASM in that picture, would I be correct to assume they are a bugger to reload.

Supportive Bloke
Supportive Bloke
1 year ago
Reply to  farouk

You aren’t going to be putting a Harpoon on your shoulder and hefting it into the tube: that is for sure!

At nearly 2t Harpoon is awkward to insert into the tube with it in location. So usually it is pre loaded into the tube (vertically) and the tube is lowered onto the mounts. That way it is a standard slinging operation that can be balanced round the centre of mass. So **potentially** you could reload at sea.

VLS/soft launch are easier and quicker to reload on the ammunition jetty, for sure. But virtually impossible to reload at sea.

ChariotRider
ChariotRider
1 year ago

There was an article I read sometime ago about reloading missile systems at sea. VLS was clearly not so much fun, but the reload system on the T42 / Sea Dart apparently worked OKish. As the missile was aligned with the loading mechanism using a built in deck mounted fork lift system that took the missiles in a horizontal sling and pivotted it in the vertical position were the reloading system took was run in reverse and fed the missile back into the magazine. The article did say that reloading at sea was only possible in calm conditions and wasn’t… Read more »

Supportive Bloke
Supportive Bloke
1 year ago
Reply to  ChariotRider

USN dropped vertical reloads even though the Mk41 did have a retractable crane that went into one of the slots. Dart, as you say, could be reverse loaded at sea. I don’t know if it ever was, in anger, as it needed such calm seas to avoid damaging R2D2 (the launcher arms). Dart was a big heavy missile. The Dart magazine on a T42 was massive (although smaller than on Bristol). Wether time if war would change the perspective in at sea reloads is really the question. Very often the issue of reloads was fudged as the RN ships went… Read more »

Chris
Chris
1 year ago

What is an MTU!

David Steeper
David Steeper
1 year ago
Reply to  Chris

It’s a dyslexic MUT !

FormerUSAF
FormerUSAF
1 year ago
Reply to  David Steeper

😁

Sleepy
Sleepy
1 year ago
Reply to  Chris

Diesel engine

farouk
farouk
1 year ago
Reply to  Chris

Taken from here

Laurie Croad
Laurie Croad
1 year ago
Reply to  farouk

Wikipedia – MTU derives from Motoren- und Turbinen-Union meaning ‘Motor (Engine) and Turbine Union’. MTU Friedrichshafen remained a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler until 2006 when it was sold off to the EQT IV private equity fund, becoming a part of the Tognum Corporation. Rolls-Royce Holdings and Daimler AG acquired Tognum in 2011.

Deep32
Deep32
1 year ago
Reply to  Chris

Stands for Motor and Turbine-Union (MTU) which was a company founded by Willie Maybach before the war. It’s been brought by RR and supplies diesel engines for both maritime and land customers.

FormerUSAF
FormerUSAF
1 year ago
Reply to  Deep32

Does RR/MTU have any credible completion left in maritime realm? Perhaps those willing to go second class?

Ian M
Ian M
1 year ago
Reply to  FormerUSAF

MTU also supply the engine for Boxer and Ajax.

FormerUSAF
FormerUSAF
1 year ago
Reply to  Ian M

Intriguing…would be willing to wager that Boxer application is more prominent in MTU advertising at the moment than Ajax …at least until it passes acceptance trials. 🤔😳

Deep32
Deep32
1 year ago
Reply to  FormerUSAF

Warlitsa and Iveco are both players in this field, but not on the same level as MTU I believe.

Propellerman
Propellerman
1 year ago
Reply to  Deep32

If you want a good V12 or V16 multi turbo unit then the MTU is in a class of its own, be it main propulsion or DG. CAT offer similar spec but the engines are heavier, although very good. the power delivery on the MTU is perfect for these type of applications. Pretty much all naval small interceptors, patrol boats and coastguard units will spec an MTU – in laymans terms, engine porn.

Deep32
Deep32
1 year ago
Reply to  Propellerman

Yes, forgot about CAT, but there are others too – MAN for one, but as you say, here MTU is head and shoulders above the rest.

ChariotRider
ChariotRider
1 year ago
Reply to  FormerUSAF

As I’m sure you are aware MTU also do some very good turboshaft engines…

RR made a smart move acquiring them and keeping them going as a seperate business unit. Lots of extra know how. People really matter in tech businesses.

RR have done remarkably well since they were bailed out in the 1970’s after the inital failure of the RB211 – the original engines had carbon fibre fans which unfortunately shattered when the frozen chickens where fired at them. Bankrupted the company at the time.

Seems they’ve learnt a few lessons since then.

Cheers CR

Jon
Jon
1 year ago
Reply to  ChariotRider

Hmm, frozen chickens. I wonder if the Ukrainians could weaponise that

“The American have run out of Stingers and want to know if we can use 2,000 Rhode Island Reds.”

Last edited 1 year ago by Jon
FormerUSAF
FormerUSAF
1 year ago
Reply to  Jon

😁

ChariotRider
ChariotRider
1 year ago
Reply to  Jon

Assuming they haven’t broken out of the pen…

CR

FormerUSAF
FormerUSAF
1 year ago
Reply to  ChariotRider

Knew RR had had some difficulty in the past; never knew specific cause. Didn’t RR also have some sort of a financial issue during the pandemic?

ChariotRider
ChariotRider
1 year ago
Reply to  FormerUSAF

Yeh, given the civil aviation shut down…

Mind you who didn’t have issues?

Cheers CR

Propellerman
Propellerman
1 year ago
Reply to  ChariotRider

the chickens were not supposed to be frozen, upon doing the bird strike test they realised they had no chickens so some wag was despatched into town to get some – unfortunately they shopped at Iceland and came back with a rock solid chicken which was launched into the engine intake and lunched the bypass fans which were then ingested right through the engine along with the chicken

ChariotRider
ChariotRider
1 year ago
Reply to  Propellerman

Ah, that’s where the ‘frozen’ came from… I didn’t think it should have been a real ‘Frozen’ chicken but it was what I had always heard over the years.

“What a mistaka to maka..!”

Cheers CR

Malcolm Rich
Malcolm Rich
1 year ago
Reply to  Propellerman

The story is a little more mundane than that as I knew some of the people involved in the original tests who manufactured the ‘chicken gun’ by RAE in Farnborough… can’t make this up! They originally used fresh chicken but as they fired it with compressed air it would disintegrate before it got to the end of the tube, so they went to frozen chickens. This was considered worse case as is often the case for testing aerospace systems (always go for the worse case so you cover 99.9% of all probabilities) but I am not sure if it is… Read more »

FormerUSAF
FormerUSAF
1 year ago
Reply to  Malcolm Rich

Another case of stranger than fiction …😳

FormerUSAF
FormerUSAF
1 year ago
Reply to  FormerUSAF

… competition… autocorrect strikes again 🙄

Frank62
Frank62
1 year ago
Reply to  Chris

MTU Friedrichshafen GmbH is a German manufacturer of commercial internal combustion engines, aquired by Roll Royce in 2014. That’s according to Wikipedia.

Monkey spanker
Monkey spanker
1 year ago

How much electricity can one of these big engines generate? Ukraine could use a lot for winter.
Maybe we will see lines of T72 hulls with generators in the hull. Armoured for drone strikes🙈

David Barry
David Barry
1 year ago

MTU are big in the railway market IIRC – Daniele?

Urwin
Urwin
1 year ago

Impossible to work on but at least it keeps the contractors funds rolling in