Royal Navy ship adds innovative helicopter landing system thanks to a South Shields company
A South Shields-based company has enhanced a Royal Navy ship.
South Shields-based UK Docks Marine Services has helped install an advanced Heli Deck Lighting System on the Royal Navy's HMS Forth, enhancing helicopters' ability to land on the vessel at night.
Work on the Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) was completed at UK Docks’ Teesside yard, with HMS Forth now joining fellow OPV’s HMS Trent and HMS Spey in hosting the Glamox Helicopter Visual Landing Aid System (HVLAS).
The new technology will enable the ship's staff to operate with greater flexibility, control, and mission agility.
A successful collaboration
The installation marked a successful collaboration between UK Docks, Glamox and Du Pre Marine, and is an example of how the public and private sectors can work together to deliver strong results for the Ministry of Defence.
Stephen Lee, operations director at UK Docks Marine Services, commented: "Completing the HVLAS installation on HMS Forth ahead of schedule is a direct result of the experience we carried forward from HMS Trent and HMS Spey.
“In 2024, our team built the case for the project and brought du Pré Marine in as the installation partner.
“We hold the contract, and this installation was particularly satisfying because our Teesside facility provided the base of operations, while Glamox and du Pré Marine brought the technology and the engineering skill to execute.
“Completing this complex project ahead of schedule demonstrates what this facility and our team can deliver in support of the Ministry of Defence and Royal Navy."
Improving the Royal Navy fleet
UK Docks, headquartered at River Drive in South Shields, has a £250m, eight-year contract running to 2031 to service and maintain all five of the Royal Navy’s Batch 2, River Class, OPVs (HMS Medway and HMS Tamar are the other two).
The programme was first executed on HMS Trent and is now being extended across the remaining fleet.
Acceptance trials at sea, covering daytime and night-time helicopter approaches and landings, will follow in the coming weeks for HMS Forth.
The Glamox HVLAS is a complete flight-deck LED lighting system, supplied to Navies worldwide, that provides pilots with visual cues and information during approach and landing.
It includes a stabilised horizon bar that indicates the horizon's position regardless of the vessel's roll and pitch, a three-colour glide path indicator showing whether an aircraft is on the correct approach path, deck-edge lighting, and focused LED beam lines providing precise positional cues for pilots in low-visibility conditions or using night vision goggles.
Praise for UK Docks
This operational benefit has already been demonstrated on HMS Trent, where a US Coast Guard helicopter conducted the first-ever night landing of a foreign-partner helicopter on a Royal Navy Batch 2 OPV off the coast of Miami, Florida.
Toby du Pré, managing director of du Pré Marine, said: “Without the UK Docks Teesside yard as the base of operations and UK Docks' relationship with Defence Equipment & Support and the Royal Navy, this installation would not have happened the way it did.
“From initial concept to installation across three vessels took approximately 14 months, and that pace is down to how well the three organisations have worked together.”
Lou Lewis, UK business development manager for Defence and Security at Glamox, said: "HMS Forth completing this installation at the UK Docks Teesside yard is a significant step in the rollout across the Batch 2 fleet.
“The partnership between Glamox, du Pré Marine and UK Docks is what makes this programme work in practice.”