David Brown Gear Systems secures largest single order with Type 26 contract

The company, which has been supplying low noise precision gearing to military vessels for 70 years, is one of seven businesses named by BAE Systems to execute the first equipment manufacturing contracts for the Royal Navy’s next generation warship.

The contracts - worth in excess of £170m and funded by the £859m Demonstration Phase contract that began in April 2015 - will see the delivery of equipment including propulsion, communications and electrical systems for the first three ships in the programme.

Steve Watson, managing director, David Brown Gear Systems told The Engineer that ‘tens of millions of pounds’ has been invested to develop a semi-derelict area of the company’s Huddersfield site into new manufacturing, assembly and test facilities that will accommodate – and de-risk - work on the Type 26.

David Brown Gear Systems, which supplies gear boxes globally to sectors including oil and gas and power generation, first became involved in the Type 26 programme in April 2013 when they were awarded a design and development contract. This was followed in 2014 by long-lead time activities and the subsequent award of a development and manufacturing contract in June 2015. The first gearbox will be delivered to the programme in 2017.