Following the completion of 57-120 Pavonia in a few weeks, NS will switch production of the Protector 57A to a "Spec B". The last planned Protector of the current ship building plan will be the first to this new standard and this should be the standard used for the remaining nineteen ships to be built. The Spec B ships will have names which begin with V (some planned names which begin with P have been changed).
The Spec B Protector has a number of changes which reflect experience with operating the earlier ships. The main change is a larger docking bay. This has been increased in size by 20%, achieved by merging two cargo holds and reallocating some of the space (cargo capacity has only been cut by 9%). The Spec B also has a larger brig, improved ship board security measures and will be the first NS ship to deploy automated DNA scanning technology to reduce the load on the DSA.
The Spec B will also be able to carry a single MRM externally and it's TPM VLS cell will be compatible with the new TPM-3 Sigma 3 variant. It is thought NS also planned to update the engine but this will not be ready for the first Spec B Protector and may be carried out later this year or early next. The Spec B will officially be known as the Violet 57B.
