The proposed Type 32 frigate programme remains in its concept phase, with no immediate plans to proceed to design or procurement stages until the conclusions of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) are made public.
Responding to a written question from Ben Obese-Jecty MP on 29 April 2025, Defence Minister Maria Eagle reiterated that “the Ministry of Defence is continuously evaluating its capabilities, which includes considering potential enhancements to the Royal Navy’s fleet.” She added that “future capability plans for the Royal Navy will be part of the Strategic Defence Review.”
This is consistent with responses given earlier this year, including to David Reed MP in January, when the Minister stated: “The Type 32 frigate programme is in the concept phase and has not yet reached the level of maturity to allow publication of a specific timetable for design and procurement.” She made clear that all future shipbuilding decisions, including Type 32, would be shaped by SDR outcomes.
The Type 32 concept was first announced under the Johnson government and was initially pitched as part of a long-term plan to grow the Royal Navy surface fleet. However, since the announcement, the programme has seen minimal public progress and remains largely undefined.
Speculation has continued around the ship’s potential role. Some defence analysts have suggested it could either be a completely new class or an expansion of the current Type 31 general-purpose frigate fleet. Still, no formal details have emerged, and the MOD has repeatedly declined to commit to any design, timetable, or industrial partnership.
In a wider strategic context, the Type 32’s future is inextricably linked to the outcomes of the 2025 Strategic Defence Review, led by Lord Robertson.
That review is expected to provide clarity on long-standing concerns about capability gaps, fleet size, and investment priorities. Parliamentary Under-Secretary Luke Pollard has previously noted that the SDR is a “serious review that recognises not only that the world is a more difficult place… but that the UK armed forces have far too many capability gaps.”
Until the review concludes, the Type 32 remains a project of ambition rather than execution. For now, attention remains focused on the delivery of the Type 26 and Type 31 frigates—programmes which are both well into production and expected to form the backbone of the future Royal Navy surface fleet for the next two decades.
“ Some defence analysts have suggested it could either be a completely new class or an expansion of the current Type 31 general-purpose frigate fleet.”
That was pretty much what both BW and Radakind have said at various times.
BW backtracked on the ‘simply ordering more T31’ presumably as the contract with Babcock didn’t have built in options and so would have to go to tender – many suspect a BAE hissy fit in the background….
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Confirmed that if built, Type 32 will be a ship…
Don’t you go prejudging the SDR there!
Wouldnt it be simpler , quicker and easier to order more t26 and t31 . The problems will have been ironed out and the they could be built very quickly and cheaper than a totally new design .
Well that’s ruled out then
The T32 is suppose to fill a different role to T31 and T26. It’s suppose to be more high end and fighty than a T31 but provide for MCM and in a contested environment.
T26 is coming in c. £680m per ship which is excellent for the capability. Now BAES have a new hall I think they could get this down further. I mean it’s not as if we don’t need more is it.
Totally depends on what the Norway do with their five new frigates?
If they order five T26 hulls then BAE’s build shed is chokka but the fitout teams won’t have much to do. Unless there are some big refurb jobs to be done?
Then there is the Danish IH replacement program to consider….
More T31 are very likely. More T26 less so. And that is mostly a capacity issue.
Before someone starts banging the crewing drum yet again this is in the process of being fixed. Surely I’m told.
I’ve never understood the whole crewing issue thing as a barrier..any new orders would not be commissioned until the mid 2030s so the RN would have 8-10 years to plan for the crews..any organisation can do that.
It is just another excuse as to ‘why noterry ’….
Convenient excuse for government, “We can’t order more ships if there’s no crew, we can’t hire more people if there’s no ships for them!”. Repeat until the navy is the First Sea Lord and a Royal Marine in a dinghy.
It’s also a tired “gotcha” response from the internet “But we have no one to crew them!!!!” as if it’s somehow not a given that a call for more ships will also include the need for more personnel. Those making the calls even expect the crews to be paid and fed at least semi-regularly.
A good value and fighty ASW/ASuW ship and if the rule of three is important then one more T26 and please!
Not £860m?
At 2022 costs, 1.31B x3 Batch 1 + 4.5B x5 Batch 2 / 8 = 680M, adjusted for inflation means 760M today. Pretty cheap, if official costs are accurate
*4.5B is total cost of B2
Ignore batch 1. In 2022 money, batch 2 cost £4.2bn for 5 ships. That’s £840m each. Plus inflation to get it in today’s money, maybe £940m. Then subtract volume discounts.
“1.31B x3 Batch 1 + 4.5B x5 Batch 2 / 8 = 680M.”
No it really doesn’t.
T31 were supposed to cost £250m each. I wonder what that figure has ballooned to?
Think it was +£90m, so divided by 5 ships thats £18m + £250m = £268m per unit.
However, that doesn’t count the cost of what has been transferred over from the 23s – what is the guess of that value.
The above two sums plus inflation would give us a working guess for the cost of a Type 31 Batch 2. To build mass in the Fleet, we need to churn these vessels out – then when we are halfway through receiving a Batch 3, sell the Batch 1s. Keeps the fleet young and we continue to benefit from continuous production, shipyard experience and lower fleet maintenance costs and less long term life extensions.
Don’t forget Rosyth could also deliver a River Batch 3s to replace Tyne, Mersey and Severn.
How much is Babcock’s losing on the T31 contract? They’re at the very least a year behind schedule.
River class is a Bae design. Not Babcock’s.
Also I haven’t seen any noises from the MoD about replacing the B1 Rivers.
The Rivers could be something to build a “shipbuilding school of excellence” around rather than an afterthought to fill gaps (of which there shouldn’t be any for decades).
The Rivers can and do fill many roles, could be even more with modest modifications, the RN aren’t going to ask for replacements or additions when there’s a chance, no matter how small, of more fuller fat warship orders. So, expect a shortage of Rivers to rear its head sooner than we hope with T31 being run harder than planned.
Candidates for a new class: MCM mothership, corvette, inshore fast patrol craft, ssk sub, ASW T31….
It is fairly clear that the multi role strike ship will be built and that the name change means the original aim for a ” large non complex warship” has evolved. With RM focussed on a smaller scale raiding role, maybe T32 and MRSS will be merged into a single programme. A hybrid design like the Danish Absalon class would make sense.
Yes, that is exactly what I said over on NL last week.
It also servers to meet Robertson’s Number with less budget stresses.
It might be the opposite. The T32 and MRSS could well be quite different ships but with with mothership capabilities.
*both with
Nice if As per T31 with vls as now envisaged but with bow sonar and NS200 radar.
Order 8 and sell off T31 as the T32 come in.
That will never happen unless there is a firmly signed up customer to pay for the early T31s.
S/H warships don’t command significant prices.
To sell the idea to TreasuryMan[TM] it would need to be the full book value of the ship written off, straight line, over 30 years.
The argument must be made on the basis of increasing maintenance costs as ships age and that newer ships will also be cheaper to run due to increased automation. How much was Lifexing the T23 and the follow up maintenance bills? Even HMT don’t keep their car fleet for twenty years just because they could so the principle is well established. So maybe the ships will need to be written off over 15 years (it’s just an accounting fiction after all). There’s also bonuses with respect to exports, not just the sold-off ship but the upgrades a new owner will want, and the tax returns from new ship construction in the UK.
If cost-limited continuous production is signed off as a concept, the Navy needn’t be held to ransom by a capricious Treasury for decades, at least not over the second-tier escorts. It’ll all be handled by budgets, as it should be.
I’d also question that statement about young second-hand frigate prices in the current climate. They can’t be had for love nor money. It wouldn’t be the same as selling off end-of-life frigates.
As Pacman27 points out the latest batch of T26 are coming in at £680m for what is an impressive ASW platform and with the new build hall BAE System should be able to speed things up and reduce costs even further. So order more ASW T26.
If Supportive Blokes point about the contract structure with Babcock making it difficult to simply order more T31, then I would suggest that the T32 should be developed back towards it’s roots and have a significant AAW fit to allow it to operate as a second tier AAW ship in support of the T45 destroyers. The mooted flexible mission bay would allow the ship to retain its general purpose status and flexibility to operate effectively in a number of roles, MCM, ASW, patrol etc.. The design could be based on the Arrowhead A170 design that Babccock is pushing.
However, I am getting concerned about the delays in the SDR. I understand that the global situation has been tipped up side down in the last 2 to 3 months and we are in the middle of a geopolitical scramble to work out where the world is heading but we should not be having to pause everything while we weight to clarity. Afterall, there is a very real chance that the world entering a state where the only certainty is uncertainty. Therefore, resilience, adaptability responsiveness will will be key to deterrence and hence our futures. The new procurement system being talked about is a step in the right direction if it turns out to be real, but this pause for the SDR is a spanner in the works..! How long has the SDR been delayed?
Our armed forces need to expand not merely ‘grow overtime’ and they are still shrinking by 300 per month according to recent statements! That’s the rough equivalent of a brigade every year! OK I know there are deep seated problems after 30 years of foolishness but the SDR was supposed to be a quick turn around, not withstanding the issues above.
The MoD needs to stop hiding behind the Official Secrets Act or we cannot hold it and ministers to account.
We desperately need a bigger navy that the T26 and T31 are in production. It may turn out they are not the perfect solution, but perfect never comes, so my bet is that these ships will be more than good enough so order more. Keep the production lines open and hot and design the next generation of ships under the new procurement system.
If the US does effectively pull out of NATO then Europe’s deterrence posture will be severely compromised and the risks will be huge. We need a much much bigger navy.
Cheers CR
Where does this figure of £680m come from? Is this the putative Batch 3 costs?
Correction: the cost of the Batch 2 T26 Frigates is £4.2B for the 5 ships, that’s £840m each.
Checked online.
CR
CR, some are saying that the PM had the SDR some weeks ago and is either sitting on it or has ordered some changes.
I honestly think the issue with more T26 is simply who many ships the RN now needs build..all those years of famine will take a long time to shack through.. they need MRSS and T83 built and for that your looking at a lot of very large complex warships.. and we only have 2 complex warship lines….
Quote from Robert Watson-Watt: “Give them the third best to go on with; the second best comes too late, the best never comes!”
Now Russians are back in the frame we need more ASW capability. That means more Type 26.
The Type 31, replacing the Type 81 and Type 21 in concept is really for gun boat diplomacy and tackling pirates.
Key here is the quiet running and towed arrays. However we tried the concept of cheap asw only with Type 14 and this was proposed for Type 23 so we need to actually dig in our pockets and fund the proper kit.
These look like Custom ships perhaps station in the Dover straight to stop the Boats may be we ask North Korea to Build us some ships
Cheo Hyun’ class warship.
Yeah, if reports are correct, NK built this new class of ship within one year.
Little is known about it but it looks like it has many VLS silos
The game changes again.
China and Iran are building drone carriers
What should be done to counter that ?
Will that have a bearing on the final design of the type 32 ?
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For a while now I’ve commented that I though the MRSS would become a large surface combatant and the T32 programme would be rolled into it so essentially it becomes a patrol frigate and littoral raiding/patrol vessel.
I suspect what will happen is the review will finalise this fate with 6 MRSS and an extra 3 T31..essentially that will bring the frigate fleet to twenty which is what it was always meant to be.
In my view MRSS will likely cover reenforced level company raid,with stern ramp ( or small well deck) and 2 spots for Merlin, with a 2 Merlin hanger.. it will have medium guns 57mm and 40mm, it will have long range precision fires in the form of NSM as that also covers ASM, and CAMM. It’s going to have the ability to use its well deck/stern ramp and flight deck to run significant autonomous vessel ops when it’s not acting as a base for a RM company and it will have a mission bay that can act as a work deck ( able to take shipping containers) and a decent crane to support this as well…. All up about 15,000 tons.
I suspect the heavy over beach logistic element that will be lost with the bays and Albions will be replaced by whatever comes after the point class as it makes sense to role in the over the beach logistics vessels ( which are not amphibious warfare vessels and never have been) and strategic sea lift into a set of ships run and crewed by the RFA. So I suspect the RFA will get around 4 of these big sea lift ships with some over the beach logistics capabilities to replace that will essentially replace the bays and points.
So in the end I bet/hope we see 5 t32, 2 Albions, 3 bays, 1 old faithful and 6 points.. turned into 6 MRSS ( littoral warfare surface combatants ) 3 more T31 and 4 dedicated RFA strategic sea lift and over the beach logistics vessels.
No gun because they can’t get them to work anyway?
This SDR is going to enter the realms of mythology soon. Rumoured to exist but remains elusive in terms of evidence of its existence.
The initial SDR will not have details on equipment. That will come in a document a year later. Starmer is kicking the can down the road with a vengeance. I suspect he will use more UK military orders from Europe (instead of the UK) as a bribe to let the UK back in the EEC. So more RN ships built in Spain and Romania.
These have more of a chance now the Navy is growing.
As Jonathan said above the excuse of ‘we can’t man these ships’ is quite hollow when they are around 10years from needing a full crew.
Otherwise it is pure defeatism or utterly incompetent manpower planning and retention.
Or Boris misspoke…