BAE Systems has awarded further manufacturing equipment contracts to six companies for the Type 26 Frigate.
- Rolls-Royce for the steering gears and stabilisers, with manufacturing to take place at its Dunfermline facility;
- Johnsons Controls Ltd, based in Basildon, for the chilled water plants;
- Marine Systems Technology Ltd for gastight, weathertight and watertight doors, hatches and scuttles and the Hangar XY crane, that will be supplied from its base in Middlewich;
- Salt Separation Services, based in Rochdale, for the reverse osmosis desalination plants;
- Detegasa, a Spanish-based company, for the membrane sewage treatment plants and oily water separators;
- MEP – Pellegrini Marine Equipments S.r.l., based in Italy, for the anchor handling and mooring equipment, boat davit, and radar cross section screen closures.
Minister for Defence Procurement Harriett Baldwin MP said:
“Backed by Britain’s rising Defence budget, the Type 26 Programme will deliver a new generation of cutting-edge warships for our Royal Navy. Along with sustaining highly skilled jobs across the country, these latest contracts demonstrate continued momentum in the programme ahead of cutting steel next summer.”
Geoff Searle, BAE Systems’ Type 26 Global Combat Ship Programme Director, said:
“The progress of our partners in the supply chain is a crucial aspect of making sure we are ready to cut steel on our first of class next summer. Agreeing these contracts now will ensure our suppliers are on track to deliver equipment to Glasgow at the point it is required in the manufacturing phase.”
Nick Antoniades, Rolls-Royce, Programme Executive Type 26 said:
“Following on from our success in winning the contracts to supply MT30 Gas Turbines and MTU diesel generators to the Type 26 programme we are delighted to be selected to provide steering gear and stabilisers.
This continues a long Rolls-Royce tradition of providing critical equipment to the Royal Navy and we look forward to helping BAE Systems and the Royal Navy build these world-class anti-submarine warfare vessels on the Clyde.
The timely contract award has set the wheels in motion for the manufacturing phase of the programme, enabling Rolls-Royce to procure long lead items to support BAE Systems’ Type 26 ship build schedule.”
The press release also states that 33 companies are working with BAE Systems to deliver the Type 26 ships.
now all we need is a strategy that means we can build ships every year so that the parts that are not being built in the UK can be in the future.
Good news
We need more than that. We need a new strategic defence review that actually makes common sense. We can justify a new SDSR because of the Brexit vote and the material change in circumstances. For gods sake lets stop all the nonsense that was brought about by the David Cameron era Lets get on and build more than 8 of the type 26 frigates- we need at least 12 of these fine ships asap- do not spread the order out to a delivery every 24 months but one every 12 months- so 12 years work for the Clyde workforce- that… Read more »
We definitely need to enlarge the Royal Navy, (stop foreign aid – £12 billion of our peoples’ money given to foreign countries every year). The enlargement of the Navy would be a shot in the arm for our shipyards and steel works.
If foreign aid was stopped, the money saved would most likely not go to the MOD and even if it did, it would be swallowed up by British And Expensive (BAE). A billion quid for each of these ships? Ridiculous.
1/5th of the MOD budget IS foreign aid.
Accordingly the UK spends around 1.5% of GDP on defence
Considering the Brexit deficit is going to cost around £50M a year to the defence budget, investment is likely to go down, not up.
The only impact Brexit will have is weakening defence spending and fracturing European defence cooperation. Had Brexit not occurred, the UK was projected to overtake Germany GDP wise in 2030. We would have been able to build a far more powerful Navy, had Brexit not occurred. As is we’ve made Putin a very happy chap
I’m hoping that now we have Brexit, we can have a new HMS Fearless.
Home based supply should be a preorder mandate as with all defence contracts, in order to support UK industry and satisfy strategic requirements.
Mr J B I agree that a 3% GDP military budget is now required, but this in itself is not enough – I have reviewed the MOD budgets and spends and like the NAO came to the conclusion that there is massive wastage and frankly some of the figures just do not add up. So throwing more money at this is not the answer. There is also a lack of clear thinking and a strategy that has seen the estate fall into disrepair even though we supposedly spend £4.8bn on it every year (!?!?). The equipment budget is predominantly made… Read more »
Absolutely it should, if there are parts of shipbuilding we can’t do for ourselves, measures should be put in place to make sure that in future we can.
Thanks for your comments Paceman. Interesting concepts, we cannot turn back time but we need to avoid huge wastage of the defence budget. we can no longer afford over £10 billion for air to air refuelling aircraft (Voyager programme) when the aircraft supplied will not be able to even refuel the coming Poseidon A’s on order. Lack of joined up thinking. How many frigates or destroyers and crew could £10 billion provide? Quite a few. At least the national shipbuilding strategy highlighted the need for a much more efficient future. All of the 3 armed forces cry out for more… Read more »
That would be a great boost to the country overall and just at 3% GDP