Delivering new technology to defence - The Impact of third party approval

摘要

Rolls-Royce, Naval Marine RRNM) is developing new battery technology for supply to the Naval defence industry. This paper presents a summary of the progress so far in approaching equipment qualification in a transitional period as the Naval defence industry moves from traditional national standards towards third party approval. Traditionally this would have required adherence to a single set of defence standards for each customer nation, with approval cost being met within customer contracts. However, the industry has moved away from direct customer certification of products towards third party approval obtained within a prime contract, usually held by the platform supplier (shipbuilder). Within Europe, there are several Classification Societies available to provide third party approval services, each having somewhat different requirements and characteristics. Prime Contractors will select the classification society that is most appropriate for each individual platform (vessel class) supplied. Equipment should therefore be able to meet the requirements of any classification society if it is to be available to any application. Additionally, some vessel classes such as submarines remain outside the brief of classification societies so that defence standards must also be considered during product development. Commercial-Off-The-Shelf products should ideally (be able to) meet the requirements of any classification society and relevant defence standards. Commodity suppliers must commit considerable effort and expense in ascertaining a coherent set of product requirements that will meet the approval requirements of most customers at reasonable cost. The process may involve discussions with several classification societies and necessitate development of new classification rules for novel systems. The process followed to develop those rules is outlined. It is to the advantage of shipbuilders and suppliers that Classification Societies develop reciprocal arrangements for Type Approval, cutting down on much duplication and repetition of activities that add costs to products and equipment.