A new 878 Institute paper wants the Common Combat Vessel based on the proven Type 31 design, cutting production risk and keeping Rosyth working as the current frigate run ends.
Six Common Combat Vessels are to replace the cancelled Type 83, acting as command ships for four new classes of as yet undesigned autonomous platforms, the Type 9X. All of it has to be designed, built, tested, delivered and doctrinally proven by 2035, when the Type 45 leaves service. The paper calls these tight timeframes “especially for a procurement system known to move at glacial speed”.
Robert Clark’s fifth recommendation is to reduce that risk by not starting from scratch. The existing Type 31 frigate design should be the template for the CCVs, he writes, because “a proven platform would minimise production risk, utilise existing supply chains” and maintain shipbuilding at Rosyth once the Type 31 programme finishes in the early 2030s, just as CCV production is expected to begin. Elsewhere he argues the yards at Rosyth “should be utilised for the incoming CCVs”.
The Hybrid Navy concept was introduced alongside the Atlantic Bastion strategy by the First Sea Lord in December 2025, and at least £1.3bn has been allocated to it over four years. Clark’s broader reservation is that in practice this means “cutting proven (and crucial) crewed platforms for untested and uncrewed ones”.
He does credit the concept on its own terms, accepting that around 30 Large Uncrewed Surface Vessels working with a smaller escort fleet “could provide deterrence by denial” through distributed sensors and effectors, extending radar coverage over a wider area.
Type 31 is currently in build at Rosyth. The paper’s related recommendations cover the Type 26 as an export platform and extending the Type 45 to cover the air defence gap left by the Type 83’s cancellation. The Ministry of Defence has not yet responded to the report.
Britain’s Military Deterrence Gaps by Robert Clark is available in full from the 878 Institute.
Why is this nonsense report getting so much coverage.
T45 batch 2. It has the strength for a tall mast and it has the space to be a flexible platform, especially if it reduces VLS capacity and the re-design won’t take long or cost much. I’m not convinced small, cheap drone ships could provide the required radar coverage; even if forward deployed. Extra T31’s for Rosyth. Sorted!
If i read the DIP correctly, there is £1.3B to design, build and equip the CCV and affiliated drones. These vessels are not going to be well equiped or large i’m afraid. Capability will lie in the drones and given their unproven status, i think this is a huge gamble.
I hope that’s £1.3bn per ship rather than all 6! It is a gamble…one I don’t believe is necessary. Fingers crossed there is more money coming to defence with a friendly face at the Treasury, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. The cynic in me reckons Healey quit because Burnham offered him a juicer post rather than some matter of principle.
The 1.3 billion is for the first Four to five year development and production of the T9x autonomous platforms. Not the cost of the CCVs as they will be built later and funded in the next parliaments funding cycle… essentially the government quietly abandoned the whole concept of the 10 year funding plan that was meant to be the DIP and just planned up until 2030.
In the end if as is promised defence spending hits 3% of next parliament and 3.5% by the end of it then there will be buckets of money for capital expenditure.. as by that point most of the RNs big ticket capital items will have been built or already funded.
Well I think T45 won’t leave service with such an abrupt timeline, but when it is able to.
Also, considering how long it’s taken to get a single T26 built, let alone trials, I think this timeline is pie in the sky, even if it’s built to the T31 hull which is a simpler type.