Steller Systems is offering Project Spartan, a ‘configurable, modular, survivable, affordable and exportable ship’, to the Type 31 Frigate programme.

The company say they have focused on packing as much UK industrial capability and UK equipment into the vessel, benefiting the Royal Navy and the UK as a whole.

The company add that the Nodal Modular Physical Architecture approach to the design allows for configurable options. Each node has the ability to accept different systems; for example a customer may wish to have a simple 30mm Small Calibre Gun system in place of the forward Mk41 Vertical Launch System (VLS), or place a SeaRAM or Phalanx in this position.

Spartan has been designed with the space and the margins to allow for future growth and through-life upgrades. The design includes a large hangar and a stern garage, capable of accommodating a range of unmanned vehicles as well as future systems. The ship is designed to operate a wide range of unmanned vehicles and deploy Special Forces.

According to Steller Systems:

“There is flexibility in the design through the use of an open architecture combat system. In addition a hybrid propulsion system gives a significant electrical surplus, allowing for next-generation weapons and sensor systems to be fitted in the future to meet changing requirements. 

With a large, reconfigurable multi-mission stern garage with access to a stern ramp, Spartan has been designed to be adaptable in a rapidly changing world.

This adaptable space is designed to accommodate waterborne assets such as Rigid Inflatable Boats (RIB), Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV), Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV), Variable Depth Sonars (VDS), humanitarian aid stores and equipment containers. Spartan is a highly configurable design that meets many navies’ needs now and in the future. The Royal Navy will benefit from a survivable and highly capable ship that will be the backbone of the fleet for many years. Ensuring that the design remains attractive to the global export market will bring economic advantages to the Royal Navy through efficiencies of scale, and will result in wider benefits to UK plc.”

Steller Systems is a privately-owned, completely independent naval architecture and systems engineering consultancy. They offer a wide range of naval architecture services covering all stages of a vessel’s life cycle, from initial concept design through to full detailed design, structural analysis, design review, stability analysis and emergency response.

This concept looks promising but very little detail exists, for more information see their brochure.

Imagery copyright of Steller Systems.

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George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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Bloke down the pub
Bloke down the pub
6 years ago

I hope the real ship would manage to get the white ensign flown from the hoist and not the fly.

geoff
geoff
6 years ago

Haha-well spotted. Here in South Africa the local Cop Shop regularly fly the SA Police Ensign upside down!! Even someone who doesn’t know about flags should be able to see that this is wrong.

A. Smith
A. Smith
6 years ago

And here’s more information:

“The Length waterline is 110m.
Length Overall 117m.
Beam Waterline 17m.
Displacement Deep (Fully Loaded) 3,600 tonnes.
Range is 6000nm at 12 knots.
4000nm at 18kts.”

Julian
Julian
6 years ago
Reply to  A. Smith

Well done for digging that up. Thanks! It’s been driving me nuts that for the last 6 months or however long it’s been since they announced Spartan I couldn’t even find the dimensions and displacement. For comparison (from https://www.bmtdesigntechnology.com.au/media/6708870/VENATOR-110%20Technical%20Brief.pdf) Venator 110 is: Length waterline 107 vs 110m for Spartan Length Overall 117m vs 117m for Spartan Beam Waterline ? vs 17m for Spartan (Venator maximum beam 18m so its beam-waterline is probably slightly (~1m?) less than Spartan) Displacement 4,000 tonnes vs 3,600 tonnes (Fully Loaded) for Spartan Range is 6000nm at 15 knots vs 6000nm at 12 knots or 4000nm… Read more »

A. Smith
A. Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  Julian

I sent them an email and the Managing Director sent me a nice email back with the information about the Spartan. I emailed BAE requesting information about their “BAE Cutlass” vessel (which they offered Colombia in March 2017) and have not received a response. There is no mention of the “BAE Cutlass” on their website. There is also no mention that BAE attended the “ColombiaMar 2017” exhibition on their website either. I think this illustrates my point well in that BAE are not going to be able to sell ships if they don’t exist on their own website and that… Read more »

andy reeves
andy reeves
6 years ago
Reply to  A. Smith

its a shame stellar and venator don’t publish , projected cost and build time.more ships and produced fast is what the u.k needs

Nick Bowman
Nick Bowman
6 years ago

I’d like to see the MOD implement a competitive bidding process that emulates private business practices. That would encourage innovation and cost control. The government should also stop getting caught up in choosing shipyards. Let the winning bidder choose the yard. That will stimulate competition amongst the yards. Steller deserves a chance to compete, although their offering seems to be comparable to a Type 23. At first blush, I don’t see standout innovation.

Jack Warner
Jack Warner
6 years ago
Reply to  Nick Bowman

Exactly my thoughts, but far too sensible to stand any chance with the MOD.

andy reeves
andy reeves
6 years ago
Reply to  Nick Bowman

whoever produces a ship the fastest, gets the contract to build another one. its called COMPETITION.

andy
andy
6 years ago

i like the look of it,but as BAE seem to have the monopoly over the mod/government any private firm is going to be hard pushed because of the bully tactics used….and i would like to see more competition as you might get more for the same spenditure…

andy reeves
andy reeves
6 years ago
Reply to  andy

yards such as yarrow, harland wolf,camill laird i would expect, given the right build time incentives, do anything the clyde yards can. the BAE monopoly has gone on for far toolong

BB85
BB85
6 years ago
Reply to  andy

I think BAE’s dominance in the UK defense sector is slowly being chipped away. Losing the FRES contract to General Dynamics will hopefully wake them up and let other competitors know they can win contracts if they offer better value for money and design and build in the UK.

Pacman27
Pacman27
6 years ago

The Spartan and Venator are both good solid designs. They are not exactly cutting edge though and that is disappointing. The South African Navy’s Meko’s or Israelis SAAR seem to be far more cutting edge and capable and are at a great price point.

Can we really say this is the cutting edge of British Naval Design and if so is this good enough.

I think we can and should do better – sorry

Nick Bowman
Nick Bowman
6 years ago

Monopoly inevitably leads to over-priced goods and services and a lack of innovation. Im sure that the leaders of the MOD know this, yet they allow the Bae Systems monopoly to persist. It isn’t healthy and it’s hurting the ability of the U.K. To defend itself.

andy reeves
andy reeves
6 years ago
Reply to  Nick Bowman

B(bad ) And Expensive) b.a,e)

Ian
Ian
6 years ago

The MOD has always suffered from a not invented here syndrome despite the best designs being private venture
designs (think back to Spitfire, Mosquito, which would have been strangled at birth if the War Office /MOD had their
way)I can only think of the Challenger 2 scraping through lately so I don’t rate this company’s chances.
Ian.

Nick Bowman
Nick Bowman
6 years ago

Ian, that’s would be bang on the money if it weren’t for the fact that BAE Systems IS a private company. The government is inappropriately propping up one private company. I understand why they might are likely to be doing that but it’s plainly the wrong course of action.

joe
joe
6 years ago

Instead of waiting 10 years to see what design is handed over to BAE to extort from the taxpayer, the government could order the Gowind 2500 or the Sigma 10514.

Both already in construction, both around £250m or less.

geoff
geoff
6 years ago

Hear what all of you say but from a strategic perspective,the UK has to have a strong British defence company. There are also a huge number of jobs at stake which cannot afford to be lost or go overseas. Local competition would be great but the setup costs for new companies would be massive and would an Oligopoly be any better than the Bae monopoly?

Steve
Steve
6 years ago
Reply to  geoff

Why do we have to have a strong defence company? We can’t now home build all our gear and so the strategic advantage is gone. If anything stop selling weapons to support questionable governments would help us strategically not harm it.

Stuart Willard
6 years ago
Reply to  Steve

Right so we simply buy from other mops ies who supply questionable Governments then while claiming to high ground. Not sure that’s a great strategy for the future of what’s left of British Industry.

Equally there might have been more competition here had various governments not encouraged the sell off of practically all major non Bae defence businesses to foreign owners, though I doubt through years of industrial and political mis-management and mis steps it’s doubtful they would have survived anyway outside of Bae’s clutches.

Colin
Colin
6 years ago

They look brilliant let us give Spartan the go ahead and allow them to start building it would be good for the export market and with the right armament these would be good ships it about time that BAE had some competition Uk needs to break the monopoly and reliance on BAE They have always ripped off uk on the crap they build Cannot understand why the uk Goverment keep giving the work to BAE when other companies would do a much better job Get Spartan to install SeaRam if we can get a good deal with proper weapons these… Read more »

Pacman27
Pacman27
6 years ago

Colin, These ships aren’t going to cut it in the export markets our German, Dutch and French allies all have better propositions at a more competitive price point. France (DCNS): Gowind, C-Sword 90, Belharra, From Germany (B&V): Meko and F Series Dutch(Damen) :Crossover Check out the Meko’s constructed for the Turkish or South African Navies – much better than what we are proposing, better equipped, stealthier, faster and cheaper. What we should do is look at how we can build something that is better than all the above at a cheaper or similar price. If we can’t then we should… Read more »

Paul.P
Paul.P
6 years ago

Definitely looks the part. Pugnacious and practical. The stern ramp was a feature of the early Type 26 designs I think but was removed because it created too much turbulence for top notch towed sonar performance.

David Stephen
David Stephen
6 years ago

Its not all BAEs fault. The boom and bust type of ordering we do and the slow construction pace (both government caused) are big factors in driving up costs for BAE. Yes it was a mistake to let them have an effective monopoly but we could do other things to help control costs. For a start give them a full order for 9 type 26 frigates to be delivered by 2036 and tell them they will be building the type 45 replacement class straight after that. With this level of security they can go ahead with the planned infrastructure upgrades… Read more »

Colin
Colin
6 years ago

Pacman27
I see your point about the other nations ship building. Why can other countries build good ships alot cheaper than UK. And better designed we seem to have lost something over the years the question is now should we start building ships under Licence do we need to include the Freedom class from USA Prehaps we have lost a lot of our good ship builders we could build a better relationship with the US and buy more ship designs from them

Julian
Julian
6 years ago

I don’t see why a few people here are so dismissive of the prospects for Spartan (and I assume by implication also Venator). I agree that neither Avenger nor Cutlass from BAE look promising, both being re-hashes of very old designs from a company with a record for creating sometimes eye-wateringly expensive stuff, but I find it curious to read complaints about how much cheaper the foreign competitors are vs designs for which the costs haven’t been announced yet (unless I missed those costs – the rough £2bn for 6 doesn’t count because we don’t know what that includes or… Read more »

Paul.P
Paul.P
6 years ago
Reply to  Julian

Isn’t the real issue here that DCNS and B&V make warships because they want to whereas BAe make them because they have to?

Pacman27
Pacman27
6 years ago

@Julian – you have a fair point (as always) and part of the sales literature actually follows this approach by clearly stating the ships are not cutting edge but are done to a price point. I am not saying that Venator or Spartan are bad designs I am just saying competition is brutal and if I was selecting a vessel in this class that I am spoilt for choice that includes high end capability at relatively low cost. As you say horses for course, but I cannot help thinking the MOD is setting its sights too low. @David Stephens –… Read more »

David Stephen
David Stephen
6 years ago
Reply to  Pacman27

hey pacman. The type 26 will not replace the type 45. Cramming ASW and AAW in to one hull is a bad idea. ASW requires lots of noise reduction measures while AAW requires a very high mounted radar. Lots of people seem to think that the US Burkes are some sort of wonder ship but they are not. They are compromised in both fields. They do not have the radar high enough (Type 45 is a better AAW ship) and in regard to ASW they dont do that well either as they are constantly on AAW duty and dont get… Read more »

Pacman27
Pacman27
6 years ago
Reply to  David Stephen

Hi David I take your point on Type 26 but would then come back and say that we have an accoustically quiet hull and the size is similar to current T45, it is better armed and all it needs to be better than a T45 is Sampson. In every other respect the T26 is better from a weapons fit out and has more VLS than a T45 and I think it will be our Burke – whether we do still then have dedicated ASW or not is something I would like to see but dont think we can afford. I… Read more »

David Stephen
David Stephen
6 years ago
Reply to  Pacman27

i understand your perspective Pacman but I look at like this. There are certain tasks that need doing, AAW, ASW (deep water and littoral), ASuW, auxiliary aviation facilities, NGFS, MCM. If you place to many of these functions on any one ship type you compromise its ability to do any one of them to a high level. I don’t want my destroyers playing with subs. I want them doing AAW and ABM duties and maybe contributing to ASuW and aviation facilities. That is more than enough for one ship to handle. What happens if a destroyer is out of position… Read more »

Pacman27
Pacman27
6 years ago
Reply to  David Stephen

Hi David I can go along with you to a point, we can have a AAW version of a T26 and we can have a Atlas Arcims version of the T31 for MCM and the RFA will be Aegir based anyway. We can use common mechanicals across the fleet to further standardise. where I would slightly disagree (and it is only slightly) is that most of these ships are currently multi tasking and in the case of a destroyer I dont think it will get a choice as to whether it needs to engage a sub or not – it… Read more »

Mr Bell
Mr Bell
6 years ago

I agree with Paceman. The Spartan and Venator design whilst a step in the right direction do compare poorly with German Meko 200 design. I wonder if that is the solution to type 31s need for polyvalent hull numbers and reasonable advanced warship capability. We could probably get a British Meko 200 design built in the UK under license if 1st+2nd ships, or some number were built in Germany. As defence select committee state we need a minimum of 26 escort class warships this means we need 12 type 31s. Not the planned 6 declared and requested by tender. If… Read more »

Rob
Rob
6 years ago
Reply to  Mr Bell

I assume you mean the MEKO A-200SAN Valour Class as in service with the SA Navy? Looks like they were about £170m at 2007 prices, must be possible to build UK spec ships with our weapons for say £250m today. That would give us 8 for the reported £2bn contract. Sounds like a good plan!

Pacman27
Pacman27
6 years ago
Reply to  Rob

Excellent ships the RAN ones – latest models are going to the Turkish navy and seem improved over SAN.

They may not be perfect – but they seem very good to me for the money

Mike Saul
Mike Saul
6 years ago

I feel the UK MOD will drag its feet on the type 31 project and will probably never see service in the RN. Some new project will conjured up and that to will never see the light of day.

Which is a shame because we really need affordable platforms now and in the future.

maurice10
maurice10
6 years ago

In post Brexit Britain, the RN will have to become bigger to protect our global trade routes. No matter which government is in power, additional naval spending will be essential. The question will be, does the UK continuing to build the eight 26’s and five 31’s, or buy more 26’s for deep ocean deployments? The latter will most likely be the real outcome, though a simplified frigate may have some logic behind it, to protect our shores and fishing zones?

A. Smith
A. Smith
6 years ago

The advantages and benefits of building ships in the UK vastly outweighs those of licensing designs or having them built by other countries. We can create tens of thousands of jobs in construction, design, equipment manufacture, maintenance, support, creating new and supporting existing supply chains and not to mention the knock on effect of having more tax payers who will be spending money and contributing more to the economy. We are a member of the UN Security Council, a G7 member and have the fifth largest economy in the world. We are a force for good in the world and… Read more »

Mike Saul
Mike Saul
6 years ago
Reply to  A. Smith

“Furthermore, building and designing ships is something we in the UK are good at.”

If that is the case why haven’t we built and exported a single major warship for over 40 years?

The reality is our ships are too expensive and of doubtful quality.

A. Smith
A. Smith
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike Saul

We need a national ship building program that allows for open competition between competing designs and competing ship yards. The ships chosen would also be aimed and actively marketed for export.

At present we have a single source supplier building ships on an adhoc basis resulting in delays and escalating costs.

Competition will increase quality and drive down costs.

Mike Saul
Mike Saul
6 years ago
Reply to  A. Smith

That would still not explain the lack of export orders over the past 40 years.

Any investment in UK shipbuilding on the basis of potential export orders would be waste of money as little or no export orders would happen.

The T26 programme was supposed to be export focused and to date not a single export has been achieved in 7 years of marketing the design to other nations.

David Stephen
David Stephen
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike Saul

Most countries settle for second best, we dont. Our ships are excellent but this costs a lot. Talk of exports is useless. We can barley build enough for ourselves and anyone who wants a top of the line warship will build thier own. They are not of doubtfull quality. Type 45 has a few engine woes but they are getting fixed and they are the best AAW ship in the world. They dont do anything else but who cares they are for one use only. Type 26 will be the best ASW ship in the world replacing what has been… Read more »

Mike Saul
Mike Saul
6 years ago
Reply to  David Stephen

The evidence suggests otherwise.

Paul.P
Paul.P
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike Saul

I think the structure of the industry is wrong. There is no real French competition for DCNS or German competition for B&V. Competition internal to the country is wasteful. What needs to happen is BAe’s shipbuilding interests need to be demerged and combined with the likes of A&P , Camell Laird and the independent naval architects. This would create something whise mission in life would be ships and only ships. A government commitment to a lomgterm strategy would give it the confidence for lomgterm planning and tje occasional speculative innovative export capable designs such as we see from the French… Read more »

Bloke down the pub
Bloke down the pub
6 years ago

The images of Spartan show ISO containers on the garage deck, but with no obvious means of getting them there. Has anyone spotted something I’ve missed, or perhaps Steller can advise. If they don’t respond, i can always pop along to Windsoredge where they’re based as it’s only 10 min drive.

Bloke down the pub
Bloke down the pub
6 years ago
Carlos
Carlos
6 years ago

All quite a waste of time and money.

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[…] Spartan – A contender for the Type 31 Frigate?, UK Defence Journal Ensuring that the design remains attractive to the global export market will bring economic advantages to the Royal Navy through efficiencies of scale, and will result in wider benefits to UK plc. […]

Alex Hughes
Alex Hughes
6 years ago

It would appear that the two best designs are the Arrowhead and Spartan. The other designs are lacking in most areas. BAE’s entrants really are just OPV’s and I don’t rate the River class anyway

Evan P
Evan P
6 years ago
Reply to  Alex Hughes

Venator looks better than Arrowhead to me, as it has room for Sea Ceptor cells and Mk 41 VLS, but I’ve heard nothing about Mk41 on Arrowhead. I’m hopeful that the forward VLS would be Mk 41, and the box launchers would be replaced with a Sea Ceptor silo, but it hasn’t specified this. It is also a more mature design, as it started hydrodynamics testing in April.