Rolls-Royce Submarines has opened a new engineering office in Cardiff that will create more than 100 skilled jobs and support work on the UK’s Dreadnought and AUKUS submarine programmes, the company stated.
Opened by Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan and Cardiff East MP Jo Stevens, the new site in St Mellons has been selected to tap into Wales’s growing pool of engineering talent. Funded by the Ministry of Defence, it will work alongside the Submarine Delivery Agency to support the design, analysis and testing of nuclear propulsion systems for the Royal Navy.
According to Rolls-Royce, the expansion comes amid rising demand from the Ministry of Defence and a broader revival of interest in nuclear technology across the UK. The company said it aims to attract experts in mechanical design, materials engineering, thermal analysis and fluid dynamics to bolster its growing submarine business.
Steve Carlier, president of Rolls-Royce Submarines, said in the company’s statement that “the Cardiff Satellite Office opening shows Rolls-Royce Submarines’ intent on attracting the brightest and best from across the UK. It also highlights the UK-wide economic benefit that investing in defence can bring.”
He added that “with the work secured from our AUKUS contracts, alongside the Dreadnought programme, and our future Novel Nuclear ambitions, there has never been a better and more exciting time to join our industry.”
First Minister Eluned Morgan said she was “particularly pleased that the company was attracted here by the engineering talent that we have in Wales,” while Defence Minister Luke Pollard described the move as supporting “the national endeavour, the UK’s nuclear deterrent, and demonstrating how defence investment is an engine for growth in Wales.”
Jo Stevens, MP for Cardiff East, said the development “will bring highly skilled job opportunities and economic growth to the people of Cardiff,” adding that it shows Wales “has an important role to play in UK Defence.”
Now this looks like a problem the UK has.. it’s well know that industry grows best when it’s developed in a single self supporting hub.. not spreed in penny packets across the country… that’s why places like silicon valley work.. a concentration of skilled people and the jobs they want all in the same place.
Thales, General Dynamics, BAE,Airbus to name all have operations in Cardiff,Newport & South Wales area. it also the base of the Wales semconducter cluster
If submarine equipment is being developed in Wales I hope our boats don’t start to develop leeks in the future!
Very good 😉