STXM is a naval architecture and marine engineering company with offices in Vancouver and Houston and is a wholly owned subsidiary of STX Europe ASA. STXM focuses on the design of complex vessels, including offshore service vessels, research vessels, coastal patrol vessels, offshore patrol vessels and other commercial or government ships.
The company is very experienced in all aspects of ship design including specialized analyses such as computational fluid dynamics, seakeeping analysis, and finite element analysis.
Warship design, testing and performance predictions
STXM uses a commercial approach to patrol vessel designs using well-proven off-the-shelf materials and equipment. Almost all hull forms have been extensively model tested and full scale data has been used to correlate the tow tank results to ensure the accuracy of performance predictions.
The hull forms are typically larger than equivalent size naval combatant platforms and this offers greater internal volume to reduce construction cost and offer a higher level of crew comfort and safety. The designs developed by STXM are principally aimed at economic zone patrol duties served by a country’s navy, coast guard or other defense authority.
Coastal patrol vessels
For patrol duties in coastal or brown water locations, STXM have designs ranging from the PV45 and PV50 up to the helicopter capable PV62. These designs are based on proven hull forms and are capable of speeds in the range of 20kn - 25kn and in excess of 30kn for the PV62. For loiter duties the designs are outfitted with either a drop-down electric driven propulsor or an integrated diesel or electric drive of the main propellers.
Offshore patrol vessels
The STXM PV75 was designed for the Mauritius Coast Guard with the design derived from the Canadian Coast Guard vessel "Leonard J Cowley" and has a maximum speed of 21kn. This was a turnkey project with STXM acting as prime contractor and subcontracting the construction of the vessel at the ASMAR naval shipyard in Talcahuano, Chile.
STXM procured all equipment and provided project management and on site supervision during the construction and post delivery logistics and training support in Mauritius.
Two vessels were built to the PV80 design at Appledore Shipyard in Devon, UK for the Irish naval service. The designs were a further development of the PV75 and have a maximum speed in excess of 22kn and a range of 6,000 nautical miles. and operate in the harsh environments of the North Atlantic and the Irish Sea. These vessels were the first STXM design to include segregated machinery spaces for added safety and redundancy.
The latest design of STXM is the PV85 with two vessels to this design having just been completed for the Royal New Zealand Navy at the BAE Systems Australia shipyard in Williamstown, Victoria. This design offers a 23 knot maximum speed with full helicopter facilities, including maintenance hangar and refueling capability. The vessel has a range of 6,000 nautical miles and is also ice strengthened for patrol duties in the Antarctic regions.
Future developments
STXM is continually working to develop new vessels and to improve the efficiency, flexibility and producibility of all OPV designs. This includes the incorporation of the latest hybrid propulsion systems for slow speed operations, the use of the latest technology for mission systems such as UAVs and USVs and the harmonization of the structure for modular construction techniques and pre-outfitting.