Richard is the Chief of Naval Future Programmes at Rolls-Royce and is an accomplished Marine Engineer with a broad understanding of the naval industry, including legislative, operational, environmental and geo-political drivers.

He has more than twenty years’ experience in international business development and strategic sales with Rolls-Royce, supported by a strong technical/operational background, with experience as a sea-going operator/maintainer (Royal Navy), in gas turbine design/development (Alstom).

His expertise is in surface warship propulsion and power generation, including system design optimization and machinery selection, often involving interaction with complex stakeholder organizations, such as MoD/DoD technical organizations and procurement agencies, and shipyards in new warship Programmes. Examples have included the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth class Aircraft Carrier, the US Navy’s Zumwalt class DDG, the Republic of Korea Navy’s FFX-II Daegu class frigate and JMSDF’s Mogami class Frigate.

Richard operates at a strategic level managing the challenges and opportunities associated with the electrification, digitization and decarbonization of complex warships, and encompassing product, technology and business strategy.

A Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Marine Engineers, Scientists and Technologists (IMarEST), Richard is an alumni of Plymouth University (B.Eng in Mechanical engineering, 1996) and University College London (M.Sc in Marine engineering – Electrical option, 2001).

Richard has authored numerous technical papers covering warship power & propulsion related topics in a large number of different events and countries and under the auspices of various organisations e.g. ASNE, IMarEST, INCOSE, and was a member of IMarEST Technical Papers Committee for INEC-Asia 2013-2017. He regularly promotes both Systems Engineering techniques and Marine Engineering to customers, colleagues, STEM pupils and students and is a regular guest speaker at various UK universities, military establishments, IMarEST branch meetings & other seminars.

Day 2: Thursday January 15th | 11:00 – 11:30

Title:  A Defence perspective on energy and power for an increasingly contested world

Abstract:  Environmental sustainability is very much in the mind of the Defence sector, but issues of military capability, resilience and sovereignty take a greater significance in a more contested world. While, for air forces, clear synergies exist with civil aviation on topics such as SAF, in the marine sector, less clarity on future fuels for merchant operators mean this uncertainty is reflected in navies’ positions, contributing to pushing this issue further in the future. Moreover, while there was a net zero 2040 goal for the Royal Air Force in the UK, this has perhaps become more of an ambition, reflecting the challenges attached to the task and access to the fuel, as well as the broader geo-political and economic situation.

In the naval sector, the external environment is very dynamic: with a high rate of change of mission systems technology to meet evolving (and additional) threats, changes to warfighting, and regional tensions caused by conflict and climate change – generally a more contested world.

The industry-wide macro-trends of Electrification, Digitisation and De-carbonisation pose both challenges and opportunities for the naval sector.

Electrification, firstly for adaptability and military advantage; to leverage advanced mission systems technology. ‘More electric’ architectures for better platform design and secondly, potentially lower carbon emissions. The Royal Navy’s 40-year electrification journey culminating in the all-electric Queen Elizabeth Class carrier programme with unprecedented survivability. Next-generation complex warships likely to build upon the success and adopt DC distribution, enabling variable-speed generators with a number of potential advantages.

Digitisation is very much seen as both an opportunity and a threat; close to real-time analysis of engine data to prioritise on-board maintenance and enable higher equipment availability, facilitating a smaller Engineering Dept; with fewer people in harm’s way. Hybrid fleets (with both crewed and uncrewed warships) with a flotilla of ‘Loyal wingman’ type uncrewed surface vessels accompanying complex crewed warships in a networked environment.

Climate Change & Sustainability, and resilience. The potential divergence of naval fuel supply chains and loss of the resultant volumetric benefit from Merchant. Transitional fuels as a stepping-stone to the novel technology for genuine decarbonisation. Robust funding and collaboration/co-development will be needed.

Looking ahead, does the marine gas turbine add value to next-generation warship design and operation, and if so, what do we need to do to evolve our solutions to ensure they remain system-ready