Consoles and Equipment Racks

The Challenge

To deliver equipment racks, operator consoles and interface units for Royal Navy’s largest ships.

Our Solution

Modern warships such as the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers embody exceptionally complex networks of sensors, communications, processing and human interaction elements. Connecting, housing and powering these elements requires an equally complex and highly reliable infrastructure of cabling, interfaces, cabinets and consoles, adaptable as systems are upgraded.
STS Defence was entrusted to produce all of the operator consoles for the Operations Room and a significant number for the Flight Control area (FLYCO) in the QEC carriers. Designed in close collaboration with the Combat System integrators, around fifty consoles were produced in four different sizes and configurations.
As well as the consoles, we also supplied a range of computer/electronic equipment racks and interface units.
Designed to accommodate, interconnect and cool servers and other components, nineteen 38U cabinets were built for each ship, and were configured with power supplies, patch panels and wired with both analogue and digital cabling, which included considerable fibre-optic routing and interfacing to the ship’s core blown fibre network.
Interconnection of different systems necessitates bespoke interface units. We were tasked with designing and manufacturing several different interface units, which provided crucial links within the QEC’s FLYCO system. These units comprise mountings, interconnection and power supplies for COTS hardware.
Our in-house electrical, system and mechanical design and manufacturing capability, coupled with our wide experience in integrating, installing and supporting complex systems on surface, sub-surface and shore-based installations ensures that STS Defence provides dependable and effective solutions for cabinets, consoles and interfaces on warships.