The competition to provide through-life support for the Royal Navy’s Type 31 frigates has been discontinued after the department concluded that the assumptions behind it no longer held, according to answers given in Parliament.
Ben Obese-Jecty, the Conservative member for Huntingdon, asked what plans the Secretary of State had to replace the abandoned requirement, and separately in what way the assumptions underpinning it no longer held. Both questions referred to the corrigendum to tender 707770451, entitled Type 31 Through Life Support, published on 22 July.
Luke Pollard, Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, said:
“The Type 31 Through Life Support procurement was discontinued following a review of the proposed approach. The Department concluded that the assumptions underpinning that procurement no longer reflected the most appropriate route for delivering support to the Type 31 class. Those assumptions included the delivery context for the programme and the way in which future support arrangements should be structured. The requirement to provide effective through-life support for the Type 31 fleet remains unchanged.
“The Department is now considering the most appropriate arrangements to meet that requirement. Any future procurement activity will be taken forward in accordance with Defence requirements, value for money considerations and established commercial procedures.”
A third question from Mr Obese-Jecty turned to the programme’s budget, asking when the minister planned to reset the Approved Budgetary Limit to mitigate the impact of inflation, with reference to the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority Major Projects Annual Report for 2025 to 2026.
Mr Pollard said: “The Ministry of Defence keeps the affordability of all major programmes under continual review. In common with other enterprises, the Type 31 programme is experiencing inflationary pressures, and the impact of possible costs is being assessed. Any changes to programme budgets and approvals will be considered through the Department’s established governance processes. It would therefore be inappropriate to speculate on the timing of any future decisions.”
The answers give no indication of what the revised support model might look like. Type 31 covers five Inspiration class frigates under construction by Babcock at Rosyth.
Tongue in cheek, but it would be “Inspiration-al” if they ordered a few more of these T31s. Having more than five would give more availability to spread and sustain presence. We know, no money.
Looks increasingly likely that the T31 is going to be massively delayed, I suspect that’s why the support contract is being cancelled.
Everyone was too optimistic what Babcock could do starting from scratch.
Well, if you don’t have any Type 31s you don’t need a support contract, I suppose. Difficult to avoid the conclusion that the financial pressures have focussed in on Type 31 as the sacrificial lamb. Looks like the 8 RN T26, the 5 Norwegian ships + the Type 9X and maybe the MCMV motherships cum OPVs have got what money there is. A miracle export order from the Danes would be good.
I think any chance of the Danes buying the T31 are long gone. Delay after delay after delay. The Koreans with their HDF 6000 or the French FDI are I expect the new front runners
The critical issue here also applies to T26s: the first 31s are prototypes and the moment the programme hits snags, the press immediately speculates all kinds of nonsense. These ships will get into service but typically not necessarily within the planned timescale.
I agree. Notwithstanding that Babcock are on a steep learning curve and having to build industrial capacity from scratch I think the main constraint causing delay is the customer.
If you are going to sell them, no need for a support contract.