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UK MoD awards sonar contractor logistic support contract to Thales

24 June 2004

The UK Ministry of Defence's Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO) has affirmed the funding (more than £100M in total) for the contract awarded in December 2003 to Thales Underwater Systems for Contractor Logistic Support (CLS) of a range of submarine, surface ship, and minehunting sonar systems.

This innovative contract places with Thales the responsibility, control, and risk for providing sonar operational availability world-wide for the major nuclear submarine (SSN - Swiftsure and Trafalgar classes) sonars S2074, S2046, and S2076; the new minehunting sonar S2193; and the new surface ship towed array sonar S2087.The feasibility of such a contract, the first of its kind, was tested very successfully during a two year "Proof of Concept" trial during which Thales took full responsibility for supporting sonar 2046 (the SSN Towed Array Sonar). This included the role of design authority, responsibility for commodity management and technical support including spares, repairs, and engineering support in order to deliver a specified level of sonar availability under a target priced incentive contract based on a significant reduction (up to 20%) in the UK MoD budget for this work.

This new contract will run for a period of approximately 10 years and will deliver, from the outset, the savings currently being sought by the DLO, whilst maintaining or improving the agreed levels of availability. In addition, the contract is subject to an incentivization arrangement whereby further savings will be achieved over the life of the contract.

A feature of the Sonar CLS arrangement is the establishment of a joint Thales / MoD team - known as the "Integrated Support Team - Sonar" (ISTS), collocated at Abbey Wood with the Underwater Warfare Systems IPT, comprising Thales personnel supported by specialist MoD staff.

The confirmation of this contract acknowledges Thales' capabilities in provision of customer support services, as well as in development and integration of complete Under Water Battlespace and Minecountermeasures systems.

Press contact
Matt Pothecary - Tel: +33 (0) 1 57 77 86 26 - matt.pothecary@thalesgroup.com
Mike Docherty - Tel: + 33 (0) 4 92 96 45 24 - mike.docherty@fr.thalesgroup.com