The French and South Korean Navies are set to receive propulsion and motion control systems under two individual contracts valued a total of £9.5m awarded to Rolls-Royce.
Under a £7.5m French order, the company will supply podded propulsion equipment and stabilising fins for the latest French Navy Mistral Class amphibious assault ship, which is expected to enter service in 2012.
As part of the £2m South Korean order Rolls-Royce will supply azimuth thrusters to four South Korean navy tugboats which allow the ships greater manoeuvrability than traditional propeller and rudder systems.
The Rolls-Royce Mermaid pod propulsion system is a propulsor that acts as a steering mechanism for a ship, which incorporates deployed stabilisers to rotate and counterbalance the roll of the sea to lift the vessel in a similar way to an aircraft wing.
Podded propulsors will be manufactured at the company’s facility in Sweden while the stabilisers will be produced at the Dunfermline facility in Scotland.
The motors to drive the propellers will be supplied by the French power conversion group Converteam, which also performs the final assembly of pod propulsors.
The tugboats will be built in the Hanook Shipyard and are expected to enter service with the South Korean Navy in 2011.
