EXCLUSIVE | Navantia UK confirms production is now underway across all UK sites supporting the Royal Navy’s new Fleet Solid Support ships.
Work is running concurrently at yards in Belfast, Appledore and Methil, alongside construction at Navantia’s facilities in Spain. Test blocks are being built in Belfast, bow sections are under construction at Appledore in Devon, and blocks are progressing at the Spanish yards. Methil is contributing through specialist fabrication and logistics work, including the completion of a new transport barge, Navantia UK Seahorse, which will move ship blocks between UK sites.
Navantia UK has committed £157 million of planned investment across its four UK shipyards, with more than £98.5 million going into Belfast and £26.7 million into Methil. Across Belfast and Appledore combined, FSS-linked investment has reached £114.4 million, well above the £77 million originally committed under pre-acquisition recapitalisation plans.
In Belfast, the former Harland and Wolff yard is being upgraded with mechanised panel lines, robotic plasma cutting systems and automated quality control processes, due to become fully operational in July. Navantia describes the facility as operating under its Shipyard 5.0 concept, which integrates robotics, automation and AI-enabled processes into the production workflow.
Donato Martínez, CEO of Navantia UK, said the programme is “not only delivering vital capability for the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary” but is also “rebuilding industrial capacity, modernising infrastructure and creating a highly skilled workforce across the UK.” He described what is taking shape across the sites as “a genuinely integrated shipbuilding enterprise, capable of delivering complex programmes at scale and positioning the UK strongly for future naval opportunities.”
Alex Du Pre, FSS Project Leader at the National Armaments Director Group, said the investment “strengthens the UK’s sovereign industrial capabilities for the future,” adding that the shipbuilding sector is “vitally important, not just for the UK’s industrial resilience and national security, but also as an engine for economic growth.”
Engineers, project teams and apprentices from across the UK business have undergone placements alongside colleagues in Spain as part of a knowledge transfer arrangement covering manufacturing techniques, digital programme management and naval shipbuilding practice. Navantia UK currently employs 222 apprentices across its sites, with a further 121 set to join later this year.
The Fleet Solid Support ships will resupply Royal Navy carrier strike groups with ammunition, stores and provisions. Final integration of the vessels will take place in Belfast, with further production milestones expected across all sites later in 2026.
A rather long saga hopefully building to a successful conclusion. How long has it been since the Tories refused to confirm an order them at home as they were not “warships” and before that Labour kept deferring the MARS project?
Meanwhile, our 4 FSS became 3, then 1, now sitting in port.
Tragic incompetence all round.