For humanitarian aid and disaster relief, food, medical supplies and water-making modules would give the ship far greater capacity to offer support than can be carried by legacy frigates. The space could also be used to embark special forces and their boats for littoral strike operations. With the right mix of equipment carried in the FMS, Type 26 could have its own organic mine warfare capability. In the long term, the RN plans to have a suite of PODS which has the potential to give the frigates a much more comprehensive range of options. At this early stage, the RN has conducted trials with PODS containing a quantum navigation system, new radars and software under test and a prototype modular medical capability pod. In parallel, the RN has been developing its PODS concept to provide containerised capabilities for Type 26 and other platforms. Although a FMS appears to be a simple idea, there are a surprising number of additional elements needed to make it a safe, efficient and operationally useful space. With all Type 26 frigates on order and the construction of the first 3 vessels well underway, some development work has been done on the requirements and capability of the mission bay, sometimes termed the Flexible Mission Space (FMS) that occupies, the central part of the superstructure. More than four years on, the RN has provided some further detail on the specifications for this space on its future surface combatant. In a previous article, we took a speculative look at how the Type 26 frigate mission bay could be utilised.
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