Complement Analysis

One of the single biggest issues for the Royal Navy is to do with difficulties in recruiting a sufficient number of people to operate and maintain its fleet of warships and submarines.  This has led to pressure on ship designers to minimise complements while maintaining capability, which has led to a need to consider increased levels of automation and find novel ways of working.  A key benefit of a reduction in the complement is that new platforms can also be smaller and thus less costly to manufacture.

Our specialists have been key to determining the right mix of technology and people through User Centric Design’s unique complement modelling technique and toolset (CMTT). This allows us to map people onto ship functions and assess the impact of automation and other changes on the complement. By running various types of ‘what-if’ simulations, we can predict the optimum complement for ships or submarines.

Complement Modelling Technique and Toolset (CMTT)CMTT provides a method and toolset to predict the size and composition of complements for ships and submarines

Complement Modelling Technique and Toolset (CMTT)

CMTT provides a method and toolset to predict the size and composition of complements for ships and submarines

CMTT has been honed through a number of studies stretching over several years.  Examples include:

  • MUFC submarine: A DHCSTC funded study to determine automation technology and the minimum complement for the next generation hunter-killer submarine, now known as SSN(R)

  • TX Ship: A new concept in autonomous naval vessels, the ‘Transition Ship’ developed by Thales and Stellar Systems is a highly automated platform with a tiny crew able to automatically launch and recover off-board systems and unmanned air vehicles

  • MHC Ship: Mine Countermeasures and Hydrographic Capability study for the Naval Design Partnership to determine the complement of various different platform design options

    Those projects varied in size from a few days to a few months, but in every case, our clients were delighted with our work and our insights. Speak to us today if you would like to know more about complementing and CMTT.

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