The second Panther destroyer has entered service, D102 Jaguar contains a number of minor changes from Panther and the first ship will receive modifications to bring it up to the same standard in April. From D105 onwards there will be further changes to the ships with a number of improved systems though the DDS have not yet detailed what these improvements are.
Two Romes have also joined the fleet, K114 Marius and K115 Vespasian. These are fitted with 5036-A2 combat suite which has a number of improvements with the data filtering and user interest. The improvements are all software so it is hoped other 5036-A equipped ships will receive the update after evaluation in these 2 new Romes.
The first 2 Friendship utility transports have been delivered A201 and A202 (the DDS are not going to name these ships). The DDS will begin training and orientation before they take over the UNP contract next year.
The DDS are to disband the 4 ship Caspian Sea class and update the frigates to the same standard as the Barents Sea class (including the better engine). The 4 ships will then be merged into the Barents class. The DDS said they had enough spare engines to perform the update and the benefits of improved performance and fleet standardisation would outweigh the cost of the updates.
The SUP (Standard Utility Platform) has been a great success, forming the backbone of the ships that form the DDS' major transport, oiler, amphibious warfare and now carrier types. The SUP literally is a backbone for a ship consisting of the engines, major equipment and basic control system. The rest of the ship is then built around the SUP depending on the role needed. The DDS are now looking into improving the SUP for the next generation of large DDS ships. SUP-X would have a higher performance though the DDS have not said how much yet. SUP-X is some way off, even if SUP production ended tomorrow there is a backlog of 19 SUPs built ready to be used.
