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SAS 2016: iXBlue to provide 70 MARINS M7 to equip 35 Royal Navy surface ships and submarines

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Sea Air Space 2016 Online Show Daily - iXBlue
 
 
 
SAS 2016: iXBlue to provide 70 MARINS M7 to equip 35 Royal Navy surface ships and submarines
 
The Royal Navy has selected iXBlue's high-grade MARINS M7 to upgrade the navigation systems of 35 major surface vessels and submarines through the award of a 5-year contract to Lockheed Martin UK, iXBlue's strategic partner.
     
The Royal Navy has selected iXBlue's high-grade MARINS M7 to upgrade the navigation systems of 35 major surface vessels and submarines through the award of a 5-year contract to Lockheed Martin UK, iXBlue's strategic partner.
MARINS M7 INS on display at SAS 2016
     
The decisions to equip both the Queen Elizabeth-Class Aircraft Carriers and the fourth Astute-Class nuclear-power submarine with iXBlue’s MARINS Inertial Navigation System (INS) were the first steps made by the UK Ministry of Defense toward the adoption of iXBlue Fiber Optic Gyroscope (FOG) technology. With a 5-year contract awarded to Lockheed Martin UK, iXBlue's strategic partner, the UK MoD definitively embraces iXBlue’s unrivalled inertial technology.

The 70 MARINS M7 INS will replace the obsolete gyro systems on board the Royal Navy ships which include Type 23 Frigates, Hunt and Sandown Class mine countermeasure vessels and submarines. They will be integrated by Lockheed Martin UK within the compass system installed on board.
     
The Royal Navy has selected iXBlue's high-grade MARINS M7 to upgrade the navigation systems of 35 major surface vessels and submarines through the award of a 5-year contract to Lockheed Martin UK, iXBlue's strategic partner.
iXBlue stand at SAS 2016
     
Robert Kramer, Vice-President of Lockheed Martin UK – Integrated Systems, declared: “We conducted a detailed assessment of all available possible partners along with their proposed technologies. By precisely understanding the Royal Navy expectations and assessing their views on the industry leading suppliers, it clearly appeared that iXBlue’s solutions best fitted the needs in terms of performance, capability and cost.”

The MARINS family of military-grade FOG INS (M3, M5 and M7 models) are the latest additions to iXBlue range of naval products. They offer outstanding performances and unprecedented reliability to meet the requirements of the most demanding navies. MARINS M7 model is the best available INS on the market, offering a drift of less than 1 Nm in 72 hours of surface GNSS-denied or submarine dived navigation.

“We are very grateful to the Royal Navy for such a decision that demonstrates through a fair and open competition iXBlue's INS excellence in terms of performance, reliability, lifecycle costs and versatility. This success relies on iXBlue core values: innovation, excellence and a strong commitment to the user” said Olivier Cervantes, iXBlue Vice President for Sales and Marketing.

Such a milestone contract opens up bright prospects for iXBlue in the field of military inertial solutions and reinforces the technological leadership of the French high-tech company, which has recently inaugurated a brand new 8,000-square meter headquarters in Saint-Germain-en-Laye (West of Paris).