UK: Lockheed Martin Completes Installation of WECDIS on Board HMS Protector

Lockheed Martin recently finished the installation of its Warship Electronic Chart Display and Information System (WECDIS) on board HMS Protector, the Royal Navy’s new Antarctic ice patrol vessel. HMS Protector was built in 2001 as an Antarctic research ship but has undergone a refit for its new role.

The ship, formerly known as MV Polarbjorn which entered Portsmouth under the Norwegian flag, was officially named HMS Protector on 1 June.

Lockheed Martin UK has fitted, for the first time, an Antarctic ice patrol vessel with this new advanced hardware and software system. After the installation, HMS Protector conducted and passed her WECDIS digital accreditation process.

The British Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Fleet Auxillary (RFA) were the first military organisations in the world to fit NATO-standard WECDIS systems to their warships and auxillaries.

WECDIS provides ships’ navigation teams with an integrated electronic navigation picture, greatly reducing navigator workload and increasing situational and tactical awareness for the ship’s crew.

Possible functions of a WECDIS system may include:

Monitoring and control of the WAIS transponder including world-wide ship database,

Additional Military Layers (AMLs) for presentation of military information such as tactical areas,

Interface with CMS,

Missile safety zones and gun weapon arcs,

Advanced Pool-of-Errors,

Target Motion Analysis (TMA),

Intercept point for estimation of where when and how own ship can intercept a target,

Screen display for task group tactical manouevres,

Mission recording including navigational data, external inputs and audio,

Display of video from electro-optical (EOD) and CCTV sources,

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Shipbuilding Tribune Staff, January 4, 2012;