A contract within the supply chain for Britain’s new Dreadnought-class nuclear ballistic missile submarines was terminated following security reviews by the Defence Nuclear Enterprise, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed.
The disclosure came in response to a written parliamentary question from Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty, who asked the Defence Secretary about a “fruitless payment” associated with the Dreadnought supply chain recorded in the MOD’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2025-26.
Defence Minister Luke Pollard replied: “A contract within the Dreadnought supply chain was terminated following security reviews by the Defence Nuclear Enterprise. The detail is unsuitable for disclosure due to the classification and sensitivity of the programme.”
The answer does not identify the contractor, of course, or the part of the Dreadnought programme affected or the circumstances which led the Defence Nuclear Enterprise to terminate the agreement.
The reference to a fruitless payment comes from the MOD’s annual accounts. Such payments are recorded in government accounts where expenditure has been incurred without the intended benefit being received, although Pollard’s answer does not provide the value or nature of the payment associated with this particular case.
The Dreadnought programme is delivering the four submarines intended to replace the Royal Navy’s existing Vanguard-class boats and carry the UK’s submarine-launched nuclear deterrent. Construction is centred at BAE Systems’ submarine shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness, supported by a large industrial and nuclear supply chain across the country.
The programme sits within the wider Defence Nuclear Enterprise, which covers the organisations, infrastructure, personnel and industrial capacity needed to support Britain’s nuclear deterrent. Security controls around the enterprise are correspondingly stringent, with detailed information on individual suppliers and sensitive components often withheld.
The first Dreadnought-class submarine, HMS Dreadnought, is being built alongside the other boats in the class as the Royal Navy prepares to transition from Vanguard while maintaining continuous at-sea deterrence.
OT.
Seen a graphic being shared on X of scale comparisons between Brontanax, Typhoon, and Tempest.
If accurate, Tempest is huge. I wonder if it’ll fit in the RAF HAS.
Talking of HAS, the MoD is looking for 120 pre cast concrete barriers for the dispersal areas at RAF Akrotiri.
Better than a sunshade tent, but why do we not build proper HAS? Better than nothing, our assets remain lined up like skittles.
And why are the RE not being tasked for this? This was standard back in RAF Germany when airfields had a RE ADR Squadron allocated.
Finally, reports that the Army is being told to stop all non essential training for non deploying to save £30 million.
If true, another example of penny pinching while politicians talk a good game about war footing and expansion, the money simply isn’t there yet, and probably never will be.
It’s a ridiculous state of affairs, our government is happy for us to become the laughing stock of NATO. How can we keep our citizens safe if we can’t train the men and women tasked with doing just that?
Yep, I am intrigued as to what ‘non-essential training’ for the Army actually is, but I’m sure Messrs Burnham,Healy,and Streeting have that accurately defined & designated. I’m confident ,for example.,that any diversity training modules would be excludef from any cut – far too important for the safety of the UK.
Tempest is big, but only to Europe. It’s not significantly larger than the Japanese F-15Js or the Russian and Chinese Flankers.
I have seen costs upwards of £200m, and even up to £500m, per unit, though the latter to me seems highly, highly, unlikely.
“Such payments are recorded in government accounts where expenditure has been incurred without the intended benefit being received…” – that’s a dangerous precedent to be setting. The idea of the taxpayer actually getting what we paid for….
hide it, hush it up, and say its all ok nothing to see here while really its a shambbles like most things over budget, late, and taking up too much of our defence budget thats not really gone up its just clever accounting,
More dodgy Chinese components?