Norway has chosen the United Kingdom as its strategic partner for the acquisition of new frigates, selecting the British-built Type 26 in what Oslo says will be its largest ever defence investment.
Deliveries to the Royal Norwegian Navy are expected to begin in 2030.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said the decision marked “a historic strengthening of the defence cooperation between our two countries” and confirmed that the UK was recommended as partner by Norway’s Chief of Defence. France, Germany and the United States had also been considered.
The frigates will be near-identical to those entering service with the Royal Navy, with full anti-submarine warfare capability and the option to operate manned or unmanned helicopters. Defence Minister Tore O. Sandvik noted that shared platforms will enable “joint training of personnel, and perhaps even use Norwegian and British crew interchangeably.”
Industrial cooperation is central to the agreement, with the UK guaranteeing Norwegian industry involvement equivalent to the full value of the acquisition. Støre said this would allow Norwegian companies to compete for contracts in maintenance, upgrades and wider defence projects.
The announcement comes against the backdrop of increasing Russian submarine activity in the High North. Støre framed the deal as vital to NATO’s ability to secure the North Atlantic, saying “together we will acquire frigates to the British Royal Navy and the Royal Norwegian Navy… strengthening our and NATO’s ability to patrol and protect the maritime areas in the High North.”
A binding intergovernmental agreement with London will be signed before Oslo enters negotiations with BAE Systems, the prime supplier. A final investment decision will return to the Storting once price and delivery schedules are agreed.
I hope this solidifies the UKs proper role in NATO.. defending the high north and Atlantic.
It should establish the UK back in it’s rightfull place as NATO’s shipbulders providing other shipfaring nations with quality kit to defend NATO waters and beyond.
Whoop, whoop! Great news for BAE, the Royal Norwegian Navy & the Royal Navy. Interoperability will our closest and one of our most important naval allies will make a great contribution to closing the North Atlantic & Norwegian Sea to Russian submarines. Obvious questions: How does this effect the build rate of RN T26’s? How many are the Norwegians intending to buy? How much work (and profit) will be going into Glasgow yards?
BTW, perhaps sufficient economies of scale can be achieved that a couple more for RN service are on the cards??
Whoop, whoop! Great news for BAE, the Royal Norwegian Navy & the Royal Navy. Interoperability with our closest and one of our most important naval allies will make a great contribution to closing the North Atlantic & Norwegian Sea to Russian submarines. Obvious questions: How does this effect the build rate of RN T26’s? How many are the Norwegians intending to buy? How much work (and profit) will be going into Glasgow yards?
BTW, perhaps sufficient economies of scale can be achieved that a couple more for RN service are on the cards??
Possibly the wrong question?
The 13 will be delivered in roughly the timescale of the 8.
So NATO will be up on its capacity to deal with marauding, antisocial Bears….which is what actually matters is the increase in eNATO capabilities.
This can then be relayed to the Tangerine Tinted One that eNATO is actually doing something real by spending on 1st class ASW kit.
Bear in mind that Norway also has P8 and F35A [Ok we have B but it is the same sensor fit] so it is a far more seamless alliance that you might think at first glance. I would not be too surprised if Norway didn’t buy some F35B TBH.
& Norway’s P8s have Stingray torpedoes. Meanwhile, we have Naval Strike Missiles courtesy of Kongsberg.
To misquote the main man, “So good you posted it twice.” !
Terrific news.
The devil is in the detail. States at least 5 frigates but to my mind £10 billion should fund 7-8 frigates unless the Norwegians are getting a Canada style type 26 with Aegis and enlarged Mk41 vls? Once you add Aegis the price rapidly goes north as the USN has found out with it’s delayed, over budget Constitution class frigates (FREMM+ Aegis)
It’s probably a full service contract as well as just the build.
I imagine fitting an Aegis system to a Constitution Class frigate would indeed be very expensive. Her masts really aren’t set up for it and would require a lot of reinforcing. Plus, displacing only 2,000t she might struggle with the weight.
Then again at a unit price of 300,000 USD it might be worth a shot XD
Potentially the high-ish price for the expected 5 hulls includes an acceleration/ “jumping the queue” payment to get some inserted into the current build programme?
As far as fit out goes, if they’re replacing their entire fleet of frigates, and I don’t think they have any other large surface combatants, then not having the US AEGIS set-up isn’t the worst thing in the world. As long as they’ve got some similar cooperative engagement capability similar to T45, shouldn’t be a problem. That means another CAMM customer too, and may lead to land Ceptor for the Norwegian army (not sure how close to NASAMs it is…).
All in all, a good fit!
And the 30mm, and a new Phalanx operator. Maybe CAMM-MR, Ancilia and Dragonfire might follow? And the RN can also utilise 2-4×4 NSM roof fit out if needed, freeing up mk41s for other loads. Wonder then if Norway might like a few T83s when that eventuates?
I’ll be honest, unless/until we have a decent VL-launched torpedo, it’s always seemed a bit wasteful to have Mk41 on the T26. Are we really going to fill 24 tubes with FCASW? Or quad-pack CAMM when we already have dedicated silos on the vessel? Is CAMM-MR the answer to my question, as you mentioned it?
We don’t use VL-TLAM, not any of the Standard missiles (wouldn’t work with the setup we have anyway), Aster 30 will likely need to be approved at some point- but T26 would need to be an arsenal ship for T45/83. Just a bit puzzling to me, but hey ho.
I’ll be honest, I’d be surprised if Norway wanted in on T83, but maybe T31? T83 is for defending a CSG, they don’t have one. What they do have is a very long, complex coastline, which some beefed up T31s might help cover.
I’m not sure jumping the queue is the correct way of looking at it. BAE will need to multi-task.
More facilities, more training and a larger workforce.
From BAE’s perspective there are potentially more sales on the horizon. Need to build the capacity.
Absolutely brilliant news. Great country, great people and a solid ally. Our relationship with Scandanavian countires, especially Norway, is a cornerstone of NATO.
Great news. Norway will almost certainly buy 5 from us.
Good to hear. Near identical? I would hope for a better radar. However, what about missiles? Are Norway going with CAMM? If not, will they go for RAN 32 mk41 configuration?
The Norwegian requirement was for a ship as identical as possible to the ships being procured by the partner nations. The specific quote from the press release is as follows:
‘The Norwegian and British vessels will be as identical as possible, and have the same technical specifications.’
Furthermore, the designs and proposals showcased by BAE all retained both Artisan and CAMM in the same configuration as the RN.
The Artisan is a decent radar, far better than it gets credit for. It successfully tracked short and medium range ballistic missiles during trials onboard HMS Monmouth in the Gulf (according to BAE), and operate in a radar band with a particular strength at picking out small and stealthy targets.
Tend to agree Artisan is pretty good. It was chosen by Taiwan to upgrade 6 frigates I think.
Interesting….if identical to RN for fit and finish then £10 billion should purchase 7- 8 frigates not 5.
There’s more in the deal than just the ships, but also profit
Why is it everyone forgets the tail follows the body. There are virtually non of the T26 sensors, weapons, machinery etc etc in service with the Norwegian Navy. So you have to add training costs, spares support and support contracts for every single bit of kit onboard. It soon mounts up but the beauty of this contract is its locality, if one of our ships has a fault it can go into a Norwegian base for support and vice versa.
I couldn’t help noticing the sentence about crew interchangeability, if you have a fleet of 13/14 identical ships that are all on a common refit / maintenance cycle deployed doing the same job why not maximise capability and rotate the crews.
How much would 5 T26 + 5 merlin cost? (Not including training/maintenance/etc)
Near identical means what it says really. I’d be shocked if they have different radars or silos. They’ll probably have a different helicopter.
I think that’s better anyway, it’s an ASW frigate. They can add more air defence capability with a fleet wide upgrade programme. That’s more efficient than differentiating now.
Actually – no. It is always cheaper to do things in build then to go back later, unless you have built with the intention of installing later (run the cabling, left the required space etc). Removing CAMM specific silos for non specific silos like mk41 is going to come with a penalty (left over silos is just the start). Free lunches are rare.
RE the different helicopter, Norway has indicated previously that they would follow the parent country in the helo too as part of the strategic partnership.
They are replacing the entire ASW system really, not just the frigates, and they already operate AW101 in the SAR role.
Merlin order as well then.
They already use the AW101 for SAR and there was discussions on Norway getting Merlin
Great news.The Norwegians appear to have made a much more sensible choice than the US and Australian navy’s. Buy an existing design, chuck it in the blender, and some extra parts, then wonder why it is over budget.
Agree the USN wanted a polyvalent high numbers frigate asap that could overmatch PLAN type 54s and escort amphibious and civilian shipping across the Pacific and Atlantic. What the Constitution class has morphed into is a mini Arleigh Burke complete with Aegis and a now $2.4 billion price tag. Hardly a polyvalent unit. Should have just stuck with the ASW Fremm design which would have done the job required.
Ditto Aussie Hunter class. Same story. Enlarged, expensive radar suite added. Result much less affordable and reduced numbers.
Steel is cheap. I think get the ships in the water and in service. As long as the type 26 has adequate growth potential or wide margin (which it does) it can be progressively upgraded.
Now turning Constitution into a mini Arleigh Burke would be a challenge for sure. No idea where you’d fit VLS cells.
Fantastic news, another example of British design excelence getting back to the pinicle of World class cutting edge state of the art defence production.
Now then, Time to open an English facility to build T83, T32, T91 ?
Looking likely! Construction of the extra T26’s continuing until the late 2030’s.
Great news. Now, will the RNoAF buy AW101s to operate from them? That would give them the best ASW capability and commonality with their SAR fleet. On the other hand they could opt for the cheaper MH-60R already chosen for operation with the Norwegian Coast Guard. I think we can expect to see NSM and perhaps JSM launchers and eventually 3SM, whatever is finally delivered for the RN’s FC/ASW requirement. I wonder whether they’ll want a torpedo launcher? When was the last time a proper warship (not an OPV) was built in the UK for export?
I would expect MH-60R as per the coast guard. NSM is a given (a change already). JSM unlikely as it is mainly an air launch weapon. Others have gone for a torpedo launcher on T26, so possibly. 3SM ? I assume you meant SM3? Wrong radar & CMS if that is the case.
3SM (Super Sonic Strike Missile) is a joint development between Kongsberg and MBDA Deutschland for a 1000 km range anti-ship weapon. Service entry is planned for about a decade’s time. You’re right about JSM: VL-JSM was cancelled last year, but it passed me by.
I think Norway’s buy of MH-60R was a distress purchase to replace their NH90s. My guess is that Norway are keeping it simple and signing up to the complete RN package. Standardisation on Merlin would give eNATO a fleet of 13 interchangeable ASW ships in the high north. Got to be the way to go.
They have been in discussions with Leonardo since the beginning of the year, the plan was if they buy the Uk frigate they buy the UK small ship flight to go with it. Remember Norway already have a fleet of AW101s.
This is such good news. Hopefully it might mean the T26 becoming cheaper and HMG squeezes another for the Royal Navy (a pipe dream, I know.
Fabulous news! Hugely significant order which validates so much that is good about UK manufacturing and defence. It will be a great relief to govt, vindicating as it does a big piece of the strategy for the economy. Hopefully the package will include Merlins built at Yeovil too; which I suspect might not be unrelated to the NMH deal.
Great news.The Norwegians appear to have made a much more sensible choice than the US and Australian navy’s. Buy an existing design, chuck it in the blender, and some extra parts, then wonder why it is over budget.
T26 is already ridiculously cheap for what it is, the ability to bring costs down further and expand its use amongst allies can only be a good thing.
Turns out the choices for T26 and T31 have both been spot on.
Do think we need to look at how T26 turns into T45 replacement to get maximum value out of what has been a 20yr plus gestation period
Hell no. Can’t you see the Type 26 lesson that’s right in front of your face?? That a new design is the way to go? And not following the advice of all those nitwits that said all the UK needed was a warmed up Type 23. Jeesh.
Pacman27, hi, I have looked at the T26 very carefully and yes it can be turned into a T46 without to much difficulty. First there needs to be a 3m or 100inch insert between the funnel and mission bay, then remove the 5in and replace with a 57mm. This is to reduce the weight at the bow, where the 24 CAMM tubes are replace with 2 MK41vls blocks this gives a total of 5 x 8 cell blocks. The CAMM cells aft of the funnel is then replaced with 3 x 8 cell blocks of MK41s, that is the reason for the 100 inch insertion.
Now we need to look at the radar suite I came to the result the if the ship was based on CAMM- CAMM/ER and CAMM-MR then Artisan is enough, if Aster was needed then a mast about 5 ft shorter with SAMPSON and a four panel wide area long range radar a fixed panel replacement for the S1850M would do the trick.
So in the CAMM fit out 1 MK41 block would have duel packed CAMM-MR, 1 block of quad packed CAMM-ER and 1 block quad packed CAMM that gives 80 anti air. Then one block for the future planed ASROC, 2 blocks land attack cruise missiles thats now six blocks of MK41s. This still gives two blocks for future use or Aster if controled from the T83. It also means that the T83 would do long range Anti air out to 100km plus and the T46s would do 50 km down plus anti sub work.
The power plant wold need to gave either a extra generator or a upgraded MTU for the extra five Mk41s plus some extra cooling systems.
Now comes cost and how I would do it. We are looking at the moment to the T83, either a one for one or possibly 8 such ships. These are going to be in the range of about £1.5 billon to £2 billion each. So lets do this diffrent we build four T83s and eight T46s. If we go down the route of the T46 in CAMM fit out that means a cost of £1 billion per ship but we save in the reduction of T83s by a minimum of £3 billion or a maximum of £6 billion. If we look at the max saving that six T46s. It gives each of the carriers a dedicated escort group of 2 T83s and 4 T46s with four tails. It also means that the T26s get to do the job they were designed for; hunt subs in the GIUK Gap. Also by doing this I have increased the RN numbers of ships in the best case by four fully equipped warships for £2 billion extra investment.
Then again what do I know
Thanks Ron
I was thinking more simplistically about this and would just use the mission bay space for Mk41. But an extra 3m length can be taken from the help deck as we really don’t need a chinook landing spot or even adding 3m midship won’t dramatically impact the design
As for cost I think you are too high given batch 2 cost of £840m each I think we should be targeting £750m for another 8 then add in the additions you mention + CEC. All in I would target £1bn which would be amazing vfm.
My view is we have to leverage T26 to the max. It’s taken so long to get going and money is too tight to be messing about with another 15yr design project. Costs are well known and we have a drumbeat on this and Aukus
Sir John Parker was correct and it looks as if the NSS is coming through despite issues with non military orders
Good news , but it raises a couple of questions:
What the timeline for delivery ?
Will the order slow down RN procurement ?
Given it has taken 8 years so far and the first in class is still fitting out, does Govan alone have the capacity to take this order on?
I suspect Birmingham will assigned to Norway and delayed.
Fabulous news to wake up to! Well done 🇬🇧 for having the right ship at the right time for Norway. Maybe more NSM and some Vanguards might also flow in the UKs direction?
Just to be greedy can we tempt the Danes and NZ with some T26s, even 1-2 more for the RN?
Well done norway 🇳🇴 always one.of.our closest allies .can’t believe a British yard is building WARSHIPS for an overseas navy.well done whoever accomplished this.years ago wasn’t unknown for the clyde partic john brownS to build warships for overseas naval servs even including the Japanese.
Hi Drew, firts time I noticed you, yes its a good question. I don’t remember the last time we built in the UK a major surface combat ship for a diffrent nation. I think it was the old Leander class.