Funding has been secured for the Isometric ILU (Intermediate Life Update) programme starting early next year. One source puts the price at upgrading the whole fleet of 25 ships at 3.1 billion zarks. However this will keep the ships viable and competitive well into the next decade. The ships will now be re-engined with the Meson TL-03CY evolution. This will have the same core as the 04 varient to be fitted in the Sea Of Tranquillity class frigates.
The ships will be also fitted with the Z5i multi-mode cannon* and will have integrated iSAS2 systems for ground attack. The ships will be TPM-2 ready (and the missile should be beginning to be rolled out by then anyway). All ships will also have 360 CIWS, a new improved version is currently being developed with greater range and will be fitted to a test ship (probably SS Carboniferous which already has the CIWS) later this year.
The ships will be fully refurbished and the opportunity will be taken to modify the internal layout somewhat. The ships will end up with a slightly bigger docking bay able to hold 2 SROPS, 1 SROPS + 1 Coril or 1 Fulcrum. The ships will also have a detachable pylon for mounting the MRM medium range missile and will have the support systems to operate and update the missile in mid-flight, and finally the ship will be able to carry Ferret-E UCVs. The ships will be fully Open Architecture 2.0.
* According to some reports the DDS are looking into fitting the turreted Z5 cannon though its thought the multi-mode version, Z5ti will not be available immediately so the Z5ti could be fitted to later Isometric ILUs but not the initial batch. As an aside it has been reported that Panthers will be fitted with Z5ti as soon as they become available, and the Z5g in Rome ground attack pods will also be replaced by the ti.
