BAE Systems contracted to deliver new combat management systems for Royal Navy

BAE Systems has been awarded a GBP 285 million (EUR 340 million) contract by the UK Ministry of Defence to support the Royal Navy’s shared infrastructure, combat management systems (CMS) and warship networks under the RECODE programme, the company announced on 28 January 2025

“RECODE is an eight-year programme designed to ensure the navy’s fleet is armed and ready for evolving military challenges,” BAE Systems stated in a press release. “It is tailored to meet the Royal Navy’s future operational needs and will deliver a modernisation programme at pace to enable the agile deployment of capabilities.”

The contract award builds on BAE’s 13 years of collaboration with the Royal Navy in which its CMSs have been used across a wide range of naval assets.

The core elements of RECODE include:

• Maintaining high levels of safety, security and availability of combat systems across 20 Royal Navy ships, with architectural and capability changes delivered directly to the fleet to keep pace with the operational tempo;
• Delivering BAE Systems’ CMS on the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, Type 45 destroyers and Type 26 frigates. The whole RECODE enterprise will adopt the engineering principles of DevSecOps1, with security integrated at every phase of the software development and operational lifecycle. This agile methodology is designed to deliver the best CMS capability in the shortest amount of time;
• Instilling a new collaborative working philosophy with the UK Defence Equipment & Support organisation’s Maritime Combat Systems and Navy Command, which will mean closer working, joint decision making and increased communication and collaboration between both parties.

“RECODE represents a huge stride forward in our partnership with the Royal Navy and will help to realise warfare capability of the future,” stated Steve Carter, BAE Systems’ director for Naval Ships Combat Systems. “The global threat picture, advances in commercial technology and the immense volume of data available to crews means we need to become even more ambitious and far-reaching in our services and support. We are excited and privileged to secure this programme that will sit at the heart of the navy’s ambition to be a protean force.”

Captain Kevin Miller, Combat Systems Design Authority and Surface Ships Combat Systems Group Team Leader for the Royal Navy, added, “We have a long and successful history with Naval Ships Combat Systems and RECODE represents an important next phase of our collaboration. Today’s challenging landscape means we must adapt and evolve at pace. Agility is at the heart of the programme in three ways; equipment to maintain our capability; process so we can adapt that capability at the pace of relevance; and a mindset to ensure we deliver. Those are the key facets that will enable the military advantage our crews are relying on.”