The Pulsar fleet will be receiving a level 2 update next year the DDS have confirmed. Pulsar Update 2108 will probably be the last major change to the fleet before withdrawals begin in 2109 and will include improvements to various systems and TPM-2 compatibility. A DDS source said "The Pulsar will be on the front line up until 2110 at least, and will be in service until late 2111, so we need to keep it up to speed." Other changes will include a next generation attack system SAS-II (also to be fitted to Quasar ILUs).
R101 Missileer will also get TPM-2 compatibility early next year as part of it's final phase of tactical development before full capability. It has also begun trials with a pre-production version of the Ferret-E UCV (Ferret-X M04) and will assist a DDS/Dino/Starbotian team with development of the UCV for the rest of this year.
The 4 Caspian Sea frigates (a.k.a. Terran Sea A) will be receiving some tactical updates mostly in the form of software next month to normalise software versions between the various Terran Sea batches (B and C are already largely the same). They will also be fitted with the attack system iSAS to conduct an extended in-service trial. The flagship F103 Carboniferous has already been fitted with the system.
Staying with Terran Sea, the C batch (Arafura Sea) class has been cleared to reach it's top sprint speed of 1000c after trials with F146 Bohol Sea. Because of concerns with structural integrity the fleet were restricted to 990c but all is now fine. The Arafura Sea class thus becomes the first service DDS fleet class to be able to reach 1000c (the Neptune being a test singleton ship). Quasar ILU is also capable of 1000c but has also been restricted pending analysis, it is hoped it's restriction will also soon be removed.
Starsystem training frigate T108 T.S. Eliot has rejoined the fleet. This was the second of the Starsystems returned from the Aritans and was not in as good a condition as T107 Oscar Wilde. T109 Richard Nixon is expected to join the fleet next year. The DDS are thought to have found another Starsystem in a UNP scrapyard and are assessing it with respect to the possibility of returning it to service.
