Patrick Durrant | Sydney
BAE Systems has confirmed that the first steel will be cut on the Royal Navy’s Type 26 Global Combat Ships in Glasgow in mid-2017, subject to final contract negotiations with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The announcement comes after lengthy delays amid a scaling back of the UK defence budget and fears the first Type 26 would not be in service when the ships it was due to replace (the Type 23s) started reaching their end of life in the first half of the decade beginning 2020.
During a visit to BAE Systems’ shipyard at Govan in Glasgow, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the UK's defence budget was now on the rise and the program will deliver "a new generation of cutting-edge warships for our Royal Navy at best value for taxpayers".
"The UK government’s commitment today will secure hundreds of high-skilled shipbuilding jobs on the Clyde for at least two decades and hundreds more in the supply chain across Britain.”
BAE's shipyard workers on the River Clyde welcomed the news, though the number of planned frigates was scaled back from 13 to eight ASW ships in the MoD's 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR). Back in March 2010, BAE had signed the £127 million design contract for the Type 26, with the last of the six Type 45 destroyers launching on the Clyde in October of that year. Only in February last year did the MoD sign an £859 million initial development deal on the new design and as late as June this year Secretary Fallon had said no deal to build the Type 26 would be signed until the program offered "value for money".
The UK Government has to date invested a total of £1.9 billion in the program and manufacturing contracts are already in place for the procurement of major equipment for the first three ships, supporting progress to the full manufacturing programme in Glasgow.
BAE Systems claims there are 27 companies in the supply chain working with BAE Systems to deliver the Type 26 ships, with manufacturing of the ships’ air weapons handling systems, gas turbines, and electric propulsion motor and drive systems underway across the UK. The company is also under contract to manufacture the Maritime Indirect Fire System, including its 5-inch 62 cailbre Mk 45 gun, for the first three Type 26 ships and the MOD has announced a contract with MBDA to deliver the Sea Ceptor self-defence missile system for the fleet.
The announcement provides BAE Systems and the UK Government with the confidence to continue to progress export campaigns for the Type 26 Global Combat Ship with other navies around the world with similar requirements, including Canada and Australia. The type has been down selected for Austrlia's Sea 5000 Future Frigate program, with an anticipated, though ambitious, first steel cut date of 2020.
Similar to Australian plans, the UK hopes to build two further Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs), which the Government committed to in the SDSR, providing continuous warship production in Glasgow through to the Type 26 program. The first three River Class OPVs are already under construction at BAE Systems’ facilities in Glasgow. Construction of first of class, Forth, began in October 2014, second of class, Medway, began in June 2015 while Trent began in October 2015.