Olympus ordered

Hot on the heels of the Fleet Development Review the Type 23A support carrier has officially been ordered and also named, the Olympus 23A class. The lead ship will be called Olympus Mons and subsequent ships will also be named after mountains or volcanos. Full details of the Olympus 23A class will be given later in the year.

The Olympus-E will also be launched at the same time. Experts close to the DDS Exports Team say they will probably get at least 5 export orders immediately.

Fleet Development Review

The Fleet Development Review has been released by Firefly after an intense week of analysis and debate by top DDS officials. Windscorpion gave his approval to the review yesterday. Firefly said the review would remould the fleet development ready for the changing future strategic situation. The first ship building plan was also released along with the review, this details what exactly will be funded and built (or started) during the financial year (though this plan does not cover a full year but covers up until April 2110 when there will be the new plan for 2110/1).

Some details of the review had already been leaked or guessed such as the cancellation of Berlin but there were some surprises.

• New build Quasar 15B to not go ahead but funding for new battlecruiser initial feasibility development granted
• Final 2 Missileer 21A cancelled (R111 and R112)
• 4 Type 23A support carriers to be ordered
• Panther 35A build to end on 14, 6 Panther 35B with fuselage plugs to be ordered
• Berlin 46B cancelled, development instead to be used for Future Frigate FFX planned for late 2110s
• 5 extra Rome 46As to be built
• 4 extra Fighting Falcon 47As ordered making an eventual fleet of 18
• 2 extra Oceania 63A amphibious support ships ordered (Starbotian funded)

As for the Ship Building Plan 2109/10 (Truncated):

• 1/0 Missileer 21A
• 1/0 Panther 35A
• 2/0 Solaris III 37C
• 1/0 Sea Of Tranquillity 43D
• 4/0 Fighting Falcon 47A
• 1/0 Pangaea 62A
• 1/0 Oceania 63A
• 1/0 Provider 71A
• 3/0 Extender 73A
• 3/0 River 75B

First figure is completed units, second is units left to be built.

Fleet Development Review to report in a couple of days

Firefly has announced that his team has completed the Fleet Development Review and will publish it in a couple of days following review from senior DDS officers. Windscorpion is understood to be very happy with the report though so not much will change.

DDS bloggers are predicting the Berlin corvettes may be cancelled as the DDS adjusts it's procurement plans to better suit the current and future predicted geo-political situation.

DDS to keep tighter hold of money for ship building

The Fleet Development Review is ongoing (and only just started indeed) yet already announcements are coming out of it. From now on fleet development will become less ad hoc and more formalised with yearly ship building programmes which will be kept to barring emergencies or wars. The aims of this is to save money and to keep a tighter hold on spending which has often run out of control.

A "mini programme" will be announced for the rest of this year (though that "year" will run to the end of March 2110) and will outline how many ships including Panthers and SOTs will be built this year. Then next year a new programme for FY 2110 will be published.

Berlin to be cancelled? / Rome update

Although the Fleet Development Review, which will look at current and future fleet make-up and procurement, has only just begun it is now looking like the Berlin corvette class could be a casualty. A long-lead order for the type, the first for items that would not also be useable by the Rome class, has been deferred.

A rumour doing the rounds on DDS blogs is that the DDS may cancel Berlin and instead build 5-6 more Romes. The review will be completed and present it's findings next week but it is thought they acted immediately to defer the order as otherwise they would have incurred a costly penalty if indeed they did cancel the Berlin in the end.

As for the Rome the fleet is to receive a minor upgrade over the next week or so. Most of the upgrade will be software though there will also be a few replacements of systems (which in the Rome's case is very easy as it is a full OA 2.0 ship and so can simply plug and play new equipment).

DDS to hold review of forthcoming fleet development

The DDS are to begin a review of current and forthcoming fleet procurement such as the Berlin class corvette. The review is required, says Firefly, because of the changing strategic situation and it is felt the DDS' current plans are not what the DDS requires.

Firefly will chair the review board starting on Saturday and they are expected to report back next week. The DDS want to move fast on this as long lead items need to be ordered soon for the Berlin and new build Quasar ILU cruisers.