National Shipbuilding Strategy

February 6, 2019

Defence Committee demands answers from government on Fleet Solid Support Ship competition rules

Yesterday the chairman of the House of Commons Defence Committee (HCDC), Julian Lewis sent a strongly-worded letter to the Minister of State for Defence Procurement, Stuart Andrew demanding clarification as to why the Fleet Solid Support Ships (FSS) are being classified as “non-combatants”. Pressure is mounting on the government to build these ships, that will be vital to supporting RN global operations, in the UK.

News Commentaries

January 12, 2019

Can British shipbuilding be revived?

At one time British shipbuilding dominated the world. As late as the 1950s, a quarter of all ships sailing the seven seas were built in Britain. Now, sixty years later, that figure is less than 1%. In this guest article, Will Green argues greater government intervention could improve this situation.
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Analysis

December 10, 2018

Three bids for the Royal Navy Type 31e frigate competition formally accepted by the MoD

Today the MoD announced it has agreed to fund three bids for Competitive Design Phase of the Type 31e Frigate competition.

News Commentaries

November 5, 2018

Another Royal Navy supplier goes under – the closure of Appledore shipyard

Unable to follow up their success building OPVs for export, and with no other orders forthcoming, last week Babcock made the sad announcement that the Appledore shipyard will close in March 2019. Here we examine the background and potential impacts of this decision.
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Analysis

October 7, 2018

MoD awards £1 Billion Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship support contracts

Today the MoD has announced the award of the Future In-Service Support (FISS) contracts worth a total of £1Bn to provide maintenance support for 17 vessels of the naval service. For the RN this is broadly good news, efficiently sustaining a large part of the fleet, strengthening shipyards while offering greater competition and diversity amongst its suppliers. More

News Commentaries

August 16, 2018

Type 31e frigate competition restarted

As we predicted would be the case – yesterday the MoD made its first steps to restart the Type 31e competition after it was temporarily suspended on 24 July. More

News Commentaries

July 24, 2018

Royal Navy Type 31e frigate programme abruptly suspended – but not dead in the water

on 20th July the MoD’s Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) agency informed UK industry that it has halted the Type 31e frigate programme. Although the objectives were always recognised as being highly challenging, there was growing enthusiasm across UK industry to be involved in the project and this sudden announcement is something of a shock.

News Commentaries

May 31, 2018

Babcock announces new Arrowhead 140 design for the Type 31e frigate competition

Today Babcock unveiled the Arrowhead 140, a revised design as their candidate for the Type 31e frigate competition. This new concept reduces some of the potential programme risks as it is based on the Iver Huitfeldt hull form, currently in-service with the Royal Danish Navy.More

News Commentaries

February 22, 2018

Leander concept for Royal Navy Type 31e Frigate inspires interest from British industry

Cammell Laird and BAE Systems have teamed up to compete for the Type 31e frigate programme with their ‘Leander’ concept. CL will be the prime contractor with BAES providing the design and systems integration expertise. More details of the Leander design have emerged and it appears CL and its suppliers are determined to make a very credible bid. From the RN’s point of view it is encouraging to note there will evidently be stiff competition between CL/BAES Leander and the BMT/Babcock Arrowhead.

News Commentaries

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