BAE Systems and Norwegian shipyard Hamek have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on Norway’s maritime defence requirements, a move that could bolster the UK’s bid to supply Type 26 frigates to the Royal Norwegian Navy.
The agreement was formalised at an industrial collaboration event in Harstad, where Hamek is planning significant investment in its dry-docking and ship repair facilities. The event was attended by British and Norwegian defence and government representatives, alongside Royal Navy ship RFA Lyme Bay.
According to BAE Systems’ Norway Campaign Director, Bruce Balchin, the partnership builds on long-standing UK-Norway maritime ties:
“Norway and the UK share a strong maritime relationship built over decades of cooperation as close allies. This MOU enables us to build on our two nations’ industrial relationship as Hamek develops its plans for facilities investment in support of the current and future Norwegian fleet.”
The collaboration is directly linked to Norway’s ongoing procurement process for advanced maritime capability, with the Type 26 frigate being a key contender. The MOU paves the way for enhanced ship support and maintenance solutions, potentially bringing further economic and industrial benefits to Norway.
Hamek’s Managing Director, Jan Oddvar Olsen, highlighted the agreement’s importance:
“This MOU forms the basis for future growth and development of our company. Furthermore, implementation of the agreement will give Norway as a nation increased preparedness in the north.”
Type 26 Frigate – A Strong Contender for Norway
The Type 26 is one of the world’s most advanced warships, designed primarily for anti-submarine warfare and high-intensity air defence, but also capable of humanitarian aid and medical support operations. If selected by Norway, the frigate would join a growing fleet of Type 26-class vessels across multiple allied navies, including the UK, Australia, and Canada, with a combined 29-ship programme planned across the three nations.
The UK’s offer includes opportunities for greater interoperability and joint operational capability within NATO’s northern flank, an area of increasing strategic focus.
While Norway has yet to make a final decision on its future naval platform, this partnership signals a deepening UK-Norway defence relationship, reinforcing the UK’s bid to secure a role in Norway’s future fleet development.
Cue one Brit T26 re-flagging which SHOULD open the door to to another order WHICH could see an additional 1+4 being ordered for the RN… and them pigs flying past my window look great.
It’s always better to think positively..in the end what you think is generally irrelevant to the outcome..but the human brain cannot actually tell the difference between imagination and reality very well and triggers the same neuro chemical responses for something that actually happens if you just imagine..positive thoughts and actions release neurotransmitters that support mental well being and help you cope with pain and suffering better…the more you think about something going well the more essentially jacked up you brain will be on neuro transmitters..if you negatively forecast the opposite happens you suppress neurotransmitter release as well as fill your primitive brain with stress events that release stress hormones and need more processing by REM sleep….
Essentially you can feel good by thinking good thoughts and feel rubbish by thinking negative thoughts…..
Do you really think the RN can afford to do that?
Anyone want to make SDR25 predictions?
Mine is an extra 3 Type 31 in exchange for losing the 5 Type 32.
Don’t think we will get anything. Just loose the t32
Type 32 concept phase go-ahead. Hopefully River B1s extended in service and seabed operations vessel ordered.
I know other ships are also in the running for the Norwegian frigate requirement. With the German F126 at 10,000t being the biggest on offer, whilst the French FDI at around 4500t being the lightest. I doubt the US Constellation class is in the running, as they are massively late with their build program. The T26 I feel does have an advantage over the others, in that it has been specifically designed for ASW, whilst the others are more multi-purpose, which I believe is what the Norwegians are prioritising. This announcement feels like the two Governments and Companies are looking at how a work share agreement can be agreed. perhaps leading to a purchase!
Just do some reading on the VARD website and remember that they are owned by Fincantieri. So it’s not out of the realms of possibilities, but I would be surprised if they did.
I think that the new hall at BAe in Glasgow could hopefully be pretty busy for the next 5 or 10 years.
Hopefully longer term than that. If you have a hull life of 25 years and a steady drumbeat of RN + RFA through the three yards.
Then you have a combined fleet of 75 less export opportunities. Which brings it down to 70 already!
Hi Mark, I’d hope that a Naval Shipbuilding Strategy would concentrate on the ‘strategy’ and keep that yard alive for another 30 years as a minimum.
However, I’d happily buy Daniele a pint if we get additional T26 orders.
Yup, many allied navies will soon be commissioning shiny, new, state-of-the-art ASW frigates, while the USN is slated to receive-wait for it-virtual frigates, as a consequence of Consternation Class program delay. Bah, humbug. 🤔☹️
Constellation has been a real disappointment. The USN just doesn’t seem able to keep it hands away from the gold plate.
Big hopes for the Ghost Fleet and drone program. Hopefully some new defence contractors that can shake things up.
A more capable radar and all Mk41 launchers, then it can do everything
The you get the Hunter-class frigate and all its issues.
Apart from low numbers, the Navy cooked with the Type 26 procurement. It does exactly what it needs to do.
There are more capable radars that aren’t full CEAFAR, which weighs significantly more than the T45 radar setup.
You could even have SAMPSON on a slightly shorter mast and it wouldn’t need as much hull modification.
Even the Canadian design has a much more powerful system without the top weight issues that Hunter has.
Selling a T26 off the production line, really does mean the Navy must keep its T23 fleet running beyond the post lifex six year refit…at present it’s not managed to get one of these refits done as the MOD won’t pay the excessive cost..they probably need to keep argyle and refit her and make sure none of the others go down the beyond economic repair route..until directly replaced by a T26 or T31..because some of the T23s are just going to be to rotten to even attempt the post 6-7 year refit.
It will be brilliant if they can..having another European operator of the standard T26 will be very good indeed…
There maybe a solution to this problem, if BAE sell one of the batch 1 type 26 hulls to Norway, let the Norwegians fit it out, when that’s done Norway can the loan it back to the Royal Navy??
M8 I don’t think this is anything to do with the T26, their facilities and background just don’t matchup. But Norway is looking for a MCMV UAV Mother ship as part of a standardised fleet of vessels with a lot of modularity, so an offset agreement would be my guess.
Checkout this Janes entry. I think this relationship with Hamek might have more to do with MCMV vessels.
Janes Hamek august 23
Goodish news – but Hamek are a relatively small ship repair yard. USA/Italy Fincantieri have an edge here as they partially own the much larger Vard shipbuilding group. The defence media’s favourite for the order, France’s Naval Group, held meetings with potential Norwegian suppliers last month, but hasn’t yet announced it’s local partner. The German bid is a bit mysterious, no sign of any tie-ups or partnering agreements. But the F-126 is the longshot – simply too big and with too large a crew for Norway’s needs, it’s quite possible that they given up on what seems to be a two ship race between FDI and T26, with the former perceived as having the advantage due to its much lower price, excellent fit to the ITT requirements, and probably a much faster build rate.
BAE carry maintenance out on various non-BAE built ships in the US, so believe too much is being read into this … though possible.
Hmm. Naval Technology says “Hamek is one of northern Norway’s largest maritime maintenance shipyards and has the country’s third largest dry dock recently expanded to 145x27x9.5m in April 2015.” Isn’t that still shorter than the Type 26?
The FDI vs T16 two horse race does look likely. The Norwegian company Umoe Mandal make the masts for T26 so have an interest in further orders. Hamel specialise in repair and upgrade work for vessels like KV Harstad and similar: 3-4000 ton, 80-90m OPVs, EEZ and fisheries, coastguard, submarine rescue. Might make sense to replace the B1 Rivers with something that could launch and recover big UUVs. Whatever happened to Enterprise and Echo?
Scrap metal probably
In reality Norway are spending billions to replace 12-13 year old frigates with well over a decades life in them because they don’t think they are powerful enough for the new threat, they want a more powerful frigate than the Fridtjof class..the Fridtjofs are 5300 tons, 32:ESSMs, 8 NSM 76mm gun..good sonar set..costs 500million dollars each in 2010 money..why would they then replace these Amost new frigates for a frigate that is 4500 tons and essentially has exactly the same type of weapon fit..they want to increase their lethality significantly.
The Telegraph have reported that Leonardo have teamed up with BAES to offer Merlin helicopters as part of a package for a Team UK bid. Makes sense given T26 is setup to work with them and Norway already has some. We’d be able to support each other’s helicopters etc
As it is no chance, T26 RN is already legacy.