Submarines & Warships

Dreadnought Deterrent is…

A national endeavour on a scale bigger than the Olympics or HS2 supporting
31,000 British jobs, made by a vast flotilla of companies
Potentially a 4 Boat fleet bigger than the Vanguard Class Submarine
With a new PWR3 reactor
To be delivered by 2028 with first steel cut in October 2016
It will deliver 1000 new jobs at Barrow taking employment directly on the programme over 6,000
60% of the boat will be made by the supply chain all over UK
A credible deterrent at the lowest possible cost – The cost is £11-15bn
Potentially able to deliver £4.2b of benefit to the Furness Economy by 2037
It’s a Stimulus for National security and economic prosperity.

Dreadnought is part of our national security strategy. It delivers continuous at-sea deterrence patrols under Operation Relentless which have been operating without pause since 1969. It is theUK’s most enduring military operation.

There is a strategic national need for a continuously at sea strategic deterrent fleet.

Britain and America have a common policy that seeks to ensure “as long as these (nuclear weapons) exist… we will maintain a safe secure and effective arsenal to deter any adversary and guarantee that defence to our allies.”1

There is a very good introduction to “replacing the UK’s strategic nuclear deterrent progress of the dreadnought class at;

http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8010/CBP-8010.pdf

Submarines and Deterrent

The Government’s Defence Equipment Plan 2017 states that, “We plan to invest around £44bn in submarines and our nuclear deterrent programmes over the next ten years.

This sector covers spending on all submarine procurement and support.

This includes:

Support to in-service submarines, including the provision of engineering and design authority support to the UK submarine flotilla to ensure that they remain safe, available and capable;
The delivery of seven Astute Class submarines, the initial support and training, as well as the delivery of the Astute Capability Sustainment Programme;
The Dreadnought Class submarine design and build activities at Barrow, as successor to the current Vanguard Class nuclear armed submarines; the common missile compartment arrangements with the US; the command and control and naval base infrastructure upgrades required;
The support, procurement and design of naval nuclear propulsion systems; and
The nuclear warhead capability sustainment programme, which covers the operation, maintenance and updating of the Atomic Weapons Establishment; the Trident II D5 missiles with the US; the UK/French collaborative Teutates project, and the provision of other services and activities across the Strategic Weapons System.

Warships

The “national shipbuilding strategy” published on 6 September 2017 outlines plans to transform naval shipbuilding in the UK.

Building on the government’s Industrial Strategy, it outlines a 30-year plan, an ambition to:

Transform the procurement of naval ships,
Make the UK’s maritime industry more competitive,
Grow the Royal Navy fleet by the 2030s,
Export British ships overseas, and
Boost innovation, skills, jobs, and productivity across the UK.

Industrial Policy and Warship Building

The “national shipbuilding strategy” clearly states that:

all Royal Navy warships will continue to have a UK-owned design and will be built and integrated in the UK;
Warship build will be via competition between UK shipyards with international partners encouraged to work with them and other providers to produce the best possible commercial solution;
All other naval vessels will be subject to open competition and integration of sensitive UK-specific systems will be done in the UK, where possible after competition between UK providers;
Defence will take account of wider factors (including the impact on UK prosperity) when making procurement decisions;
Distributed block build for all our future surface ship procurements. ´

Government is working hard to make sure that UK producers of steel have the best possible chance of competing for contracts. ´It will forecast steel requirements for shipbuilding through the UK Government Steel Pipeline and has commissioned research into future market opportunities for the sector.

Warship Requirements

Retaining key naval resources such as HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark’s amphibious landing ship capability alongside the Governments proposals for new warship delivery are supported by KOFAC.

All eight Type 26 Global Combat Ships will be built by BAE Systems on the Clyde, securing the future of shipbuilding in Scotland. ´ The Type 26 Global Combat Ships will replace the Anti-Submarine Type 23 Frigates. They will protect our aircraft carriers and the nuclear deterrent.

A £3.7bn contract for the first batch of three Type 26 Global Combat Ships, and steel has been cut for HMS Glasgow. ´

The Type 31e will replace the fleet of General Purpose Type 23 Frigates, providing global presence. ´ We are launching a competition to design and build the Type 31e in the UK at £250M per ship. ´ The aim is for the first vessel (of at least five) to be in service by 2023, and to grow the overall fleet by the 2030s.

Fleet Solid Support ships to support our carriers and deployed forces will be procured via international competition. ´ The competition is due to complete by early 2020.

The 2017 Defence Equipment Plan

The Government’s Defence Equipment Plan 2017 states that, “We currently plan to spend around £20bn on surface ships over the next ten years,on the design, build and maintenance of surface ships together with the supply and maintenance of the equipment on-board.This includes investment in:

The completion of the two Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) aircraft carriers;
The design and development of the Type 26 Global Combat Ship. The Navy has 13 Type 23 Frigates; it is buying 8 Type 26 platforms to replace the eight Anti-Submarine Warfare specialist Type 23 platforms, with the remainder of the Type 23 General Purpose platforms being replaced by the new class of general purpose Frigate, the Type 31e programme.
Four new Tide Class Tankers (also known as Maritime Afloat Reach and Sustainability – MARS – Tankers), to provide modern ships for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. The innovative procurement strategy sees the initial build being undertaken overseas, prior to customisation and specialist trials in the UK;
New Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) for which a firm price contract for five has been awarded to BAE Systems;
The implementation of a Common Support Model, transforming support delivered to all complex warships through a converged, cost effective support model centred on an improved Surface Ship Support Alliance, with an optimal, sustainable mix of MOD and Industry skills.