The Royal Navy’s Type 32 frigate was once billed as a key part of the future fleet. First announced in 2020 with little prior warning, it was positioned as a general-purpose escort and, more intriguingly, as a platform to support uncrewed and autonomous systems.
Since then, the project has drifted through the early concept phase, never quite cancelled, but never fully committed to either. In the background, financial pressures have grown, and new strategies are due.
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Whether the Type 32 ever becomes more than a design study will depend in large part on the outcome of the upcoming Defence Investment Plan and broader decisions about the size and shape of the fleet.
The idea behind Type 32 was always loosely defined. When then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled the programme in 2020, it came with little detail beyond a promise to grow the escort fleet and reinvest in British shipbuilding. The 2021 Integrated Review and Defence Command Paper later described the ships as general-purpose frigates designed to protect territorial waters, provide forward presence, and support the new Littoral Response Groups.
Gradually, the discussion shifted. In speeches, ministerial answers and shipbuilding strategy documents, the Type 32 started to be described as something more experimental. In 2022, the refreshed National Shipbuilding Strategy said it would likely be “the first of a new generation of warships with a focus on hosting and operating autonomous onboard systems”. Jeremy Quin, then Minister for Defence Procurement, described it as a platform intended to operate uncrewed systems to support anti-submarine warfare and mine countermeasures.
Industry took note. BAE Systems proposed an “Adaptable Strike Frigate” with modular mission bays and space for drones, while Babcock floated a stretched version of its Arrowhead 140 design with increased capacity for boats, payloads and containerised systems. Both aimed to align with a vision of the Type 32 as a flexible platform that could deploy uncrewed surface and subsurface vessels for roles such as minehunting or shallow-water surveillance.
If it does proceed, the Type 32 is likely to sit somewhere between the high-end Type 26 and the more affordable Type 31. It would not be a full-spectrum warfighting platform in the mould of a destroyer or advanced ASW frigate, but rather a multi-role vessel tailored to persistent presence and support functions.
Possible roles include:
- Hosting mine countermeasures drones such as RNMB Apollo and future MMCM variants
- Supporting littoral operations and acting as an escort to amphibious groups
- Launching and recovering uncrewed aerial and sub-surface systems
- Contributing to anti-submarine operations in coastal or shallow waters using off-board sensors
- General patrol and forward presence in lower-threat environments
This profile matches the Royal Navy’s stated need for more flexible, affordable ships to free up its more advanced assets. With the surface fleet stretched thin and escort numbers at a historic low, additional hulls would help cover both home waters and overseas deployments.
A Promise Without a Plan
Despite this operational logic, the programme has stalled. In the previous year, the National Audit Office reported that the Type 32 had been removed from the funded Equipment Plan due to affordability concerns. It also revealed that other naval projects, including the Multi-Role Support Ship and Type 83 destroyer, were beyond current funding limits. The following year’s NAO report stated that the Ministry of Defence was facing a £16.9 billion shortfall in its equipment programme, and that new warships collectively accounted for nearly £6 billion in unallocated costs.
Although ministers continue to describe the Type 32 as a future ambition, the Navy has no current funding line for it. The 2023 Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, said the ship would not be procured until the 2030s at the earliest, and that work was still underway to define what it would be. In a later response to Parliament, the Minister for Defence Procurement confirmed the ship was still in the concept phase and that decisions on its future would be taken as part of broader strategic reviews.
The upcoming Defence Investment Plan, expected in late 2025, is now seen as the pivotal moment. Designed to bring transparency and predictability to long-term defence spending, the DIP will lay out how the government intends to balance current programmes, industrial priorities and emerging threats. It will also attempt to reconcile the defence budget with the ambitions of the Integrated Review.
If Type 32 is not included in that plan, or if its funding is not ringfenced alongside other major naval projects, it is difficult to see how the ship could proceed.
Industry Expectations and Political Promises
From an industrial point of view, Type 32 was meant to help maintain momentum. The government’s shipbuilding strategy highlighted the need for a consistent pipeline of orders to avoid gaps in work and preserve skills. With the Type 31 frigates expected to complete around 2030, the plan was for Type 32 to follow immediately after, making use of the same workforce and design knowledge.
Shipyards such as Babcock’s Rosyth facility had counted on the programme as a likely follow-on to the Type 31. If the contract does not materialise, there will be political questions about regional investment and levelling-up commitments. The programme has also been used in ministerial statements to showcase long-term support for British shipbuilding. Quietly shelving it may not go unnoticed.
What Happens Next?
The Defence Investment Plan will effectively determine whether Type 32 goes ahead. So far, the concept has been allowed to remain on paper, with little real-world commitment. That could change if the Plan allocates funding and provides a clear timeline for assessment, design and procurement.
If not, the ship may linger in a grey zone for years, overshadowed by higher-priority programmes such as Type 83, Fleet Solid Support, and Multi-Role Strike Ships. With costs rising across the defence portfolio and Treasury pressure mounting, the Navy may be forced to make hard choices. Delaying or dropping Type 32 remains a very real possibility.
Whatever the outcome, the Royal Navy’s interest in uncrewed systems is not going away. Autonomous capabilities are already being introduced across the fleet, including on auxiliary ships and offshore support vessels. What the Type 32 offered was a chance to bring those technologies into the heart of a new warship. That idea still holds strategic value. Whether it can be made affordable in the current climate is the harder question.
There are currently a lot of distractions re new system… it would be a pity if drones and other unmanned systems were to cause the government to lose sight of the basics. We need, if not a Type 32, then at least an equivalent. However, that equivalent could be a system with minimal crew numbers… if drone/AI technologies keep going as they are, why not a Type 32 sized vessel with a crew of 10 -30? That, to me, is a reason why Type 32 could prove obsolescent before it enters service.
But we need something. Apart from anything else, we need to maintain production capacity. We also need to increase the size of the fleet. For both these needs to be met then we still need Type32 or similar.
It was always a press-release without a budget or a plan (Typical Boris Johnson era announcement).
Just cancel it, save the hassle and cost of designing, testing and operating THREE different frigate designs at the same time, and commit to a second batch of T31 – gaining all the benefits of scale from a larger order and reaffirming faith in the the T31/Arrowhead design for export sales. If you want ‘drone mother ship’ or whatever, then do a different fit-out of the basic T31 hull.
Sigh
You realise we have no money for any new frigates, no matter what we call it
Perhaps they should put T32 on hold for now and order more T31 – the RN badly needs more escorts.
If they are looking for money-saving suggestions, here is one: refit the remaining Bay-class auxiliaries as the first three MRSS. Strip them down to the weather deck and build new superstructure, including a hangar for multiple helicopters, and fit them out with similar sensor and weapons fit to T31. Yes, there are disadvantages to doing this, but when needs must…
Refitting the bay class? Seriously?
If the future of the RM is smaller company scale operations, the T32 could be a flexible platform capable of frigate duties and the MRSS role. T31 could be an affordable base platform , larger than the twin role Absalon class.
We don’t know the current state of the 10 year equipment plan. The last one, published in 2023, had swung back into shortfall largely because the RN had included costs of unapproved programmes- T32, T83, FSS, MRSS and FAD( together with a big increase in the nuclear budget to cover AUKUS.)