Ministers have confirmed that the intention remains to procure up to twelve SSN-AUKUS submarines, and that the investments needed to establish industrial capacity for a submarine every eighteen months from the mid-2030s have been made, according to an answer given in Parliament.
Andrew Rosindell, the Reform UK member for Romford, asked the Secretary of State for Defence whether he would make it his department’s policy to increase total hull numbers in the submarine service.
Luke Pollard, the Minister of State for Defence, said: “As set out in the Defence Investment Plan (DIP), the Ministry of Defence intends to procure up to 12 SSN AUKUS submarines.
“The programme is currently midway through the Detailed Design and Long Lead (D2L2) phase and we anticipate that the number of submarines will be confirmed before the end of this phase in 2028.
“Through the DIP, the Government has made the investments necessary to establish the industrial capacity required to ultimately deliver a submarine every 18 months from the mid-2030s to ensure we can deliver an expanded SSN force.”
Britain currently operates seven Astute class attack submarines, and this publication reported the government’s commitment to build twelve new nuclear attack submarines when the plan appeared. A drumbeat of one boat every eighteen months would be the fastest sustained British submarine production rate since the Cold War, and the figure follows from the capacity being built at Barrow.
Barrow has been expanding through the Barrow Infrastructure Programme, with new build halls, a reconfigured yard and a recruitment effort that has taken the BAE Systems workforce there past twelve thousand. Rolls-Royce Submarines in Derby has doubled its site to produce reactors for both Dreadnought and SSN-AUKUS, and the Sheffield Forgemasters work on large forgings feeds the same chain.
Confirmation of the final number before the end of the detailed design phase in 2028 ties the fleet size to what the yard can actually sustain. Senior officials told the Commons Defence Committee earlier this year that submarine fleet size was conditional on Barrow output, and a decision due in 2028 falls inside this Parliament.
Australia will build its own SSN-AUKUS boats at Osborne in South Australia to a common design, and the two production lines are intended to share a supply chain, which is part of the case for the industrial investment on the British side. Dreadnought holds priority at Barrow through the late 2020s, so attack submarine production builds up behind the ballistic missile boats.
Pollard confirmed in a separate answer the same day that steel will be cut on the first British SSN-AUKUS next year, and that the Preliminary Design Review for the class concluded on the first of July. Twelve boats remains an upper bound until the design phase closes.
There’s that dreaded phrase ‘up to’ again. The ultimate get out clause for any defence official dealing with procurement. Most people’s bank accounts probably have up to £1 million in them.
The only thing ministers can do today is set the build tempo at a rate that can deliver up to 12 boats which they are doing however the decision when to stop procuring SSN AUKS which will ultimately decide how many boats are built won’t we taking place for twenty years and four parliaments from now.
That will be a nice tempo with the treasury understanding exactly how much and the contractor knowing how many.
Your negativity in this situation is pointless. We are back in a cold war scenario. Building kit is what we are intending to do along with France, Germany etc.
We are all planning on maintaining the necessary deterrent both Nuclear and conventional.
So in 10 years time, up to 12 delivered over 18 years. Yeah that’s a major commitment. Not.
Pollard is a charlatan.
No shortage of charlatans nowadays most of them haunting the internet.
Whilst it would be good if we could get it to one every 6-12 months I think this is reasonable bearing in mind the array of kit we are planning on building.
The mid 2030s seem to be going to be a period of great change… Type 45s going out of service as well. Hope they get the timings right and don’t leave us with a navy with no ships.
US industry is building just over one submarine per year with production at two yards. For Barrow to deliver one every 18 months is a massive acceleration of construction times seen over the last 25+ years. It seems very ambitious
Not really ! Its perfectly doable and that Drum beat is already going on in the supply chain with the cling lead items. You need to understand that fof the last 35 years industry has delivered to the required speed as funded by the customer and not the speed it could do if funded properly and with a continuous (increased workload).
If you look at the S & T classes they averaged just 15 months and that was all done with far lower tech than we have now !