The Ministry of Defence has said it is developing options for a future Ice Patrol Ship capability, following questions about command arrangements and cost contributions for a shared ice cutter role in the British Antarctic Territory.
In a written response to Reform UK MP Andrew Rosindell, Defence Minister Luke Pollard said the UK remains committed to supporting its interests in the Antarctic, with HMS Protector continuing to deploy routinely to the Antarctic Peninsula in support of the UK’s responsibilities under the Antarctic Treaty and the British Antarctic Territory.
Pollard said: “To deliver the vision of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR), we are developing options through the Defence Investment Plan for future Ice Patrol Ship capability.”
He added that the work would take account of both Antarctic and Arctic requirements, noting the Strategic Defence Review identified the Arctic as an area of growing competition. “These options will consider requirements for the Antarctic, but also encompass the requirements for Arctic capabilities which the SDR identified as a region of increasing competition.”
He also said that the options being developed will include both cost and command factors, but did not provide further detail on how any shared ice cutter arrangement would be structured.
In other words, don’t hold your breath.
“developing options” There are two announces MOD… We keep the existing one for another twenty years or scrap the service altogether.😒
Developing options through the DIP 🤣 That says it all. It’s being done through something that doesn’t even exist.
They need at least 1 vessel to support the BAS bases in the BAT (currently HMS Protector). If there’s an identified need for a sustained presence in the Arctic (which there is), then that implies the need for at least one additional vessel- probably 2-3 if they want guaranteed availability. Relying on one ship and sending it back and forth between the ends of the earth would be the 2nd stupidest option. The stupidest option would be to scrap the capability altogether. Place your bets please.
Another option I read about was a shared asset with the BAS.
At present duel use ships are a good idea, essentially I would have a small fleet of research, base logistics and patrol vessels.. because until the treaty breaks everything is essentially demilitarised anyway.. have them built for but not with good defensive weapon systems and give them good flight decks and hangers for a couple of military rotors.. then when the ballon goes up and the treaty collapses you pop your weapons on and stick a couple of military rotors on and your good to tell the world to piss off out the BAT.
Don’t be so sensible, you’ll get nowhere with ideas like that. HMG have forgotten the 1981 announcement and we’ll soon have nothing.
The patrol will include the BAT, Falklands and Greenland, all at a leisurely 12 knots. Hope you brought your sunscreen.
I agree with Ian. We need ice-cutter capability at both poles.
The main concern at present seems to be the arctic with all that is going on there. Let us not forget however the Falklands at the other side of world. It may be 44 years now since Argentina invaded, but lets not forget the lessons learned.
Future funding has been put aside in a special Chest Freezer whilst any decision Is on Ice pending the thawing of relations with China.
(best I could do, sos !)
8/10
Bit shite, but everything is going south so your forgiven.
They’ll order nothing and scrap Scott.
To be fair, Scott has nothing to do with this. She’s just coming out of Falmouth after a refit to serve into the 2030s.
HMS Protector is the issue.
Any idea if a Canadian or Finnish Ice breaker design might be considered for these roles? Potential for a “NATO” deal?
Not sure if we need a fully fledged icebreaker.
The deWolf class OPVs look nice, but they are on the pricey side, maybe £600m each. Protector has a pretty minimal nominal capability as an icebreaker rated to DNV ICE-05, or can break though up to 50 cms of ice. That’s about PC-7 (Summer/autumn operation in thin first-year ice), whereas the deWolfs are at PC-5 (Year-round operation in medium first-year ice). So deWolf is closer to an ice breaker, but really these are ice patrol ships.
Cheaper and possibly equivalent in ice-breaking to the deWolfs are the Finnish built Arctic Security Cutters for the US. Probably PC-6 or 5, but yet to be finalised, these are being build at around £400m each (although as some are being built in the US and some in Finland, isolating the cost of more Finnish built ones isn’t easy). Both the deWolfs and the ASCs are currently on a hot production line.
Not quite hot, having finished build in 2024 are the Norwegian Jan Mayen class. I’d go for these. They are bigger, cheaper and given our new relationship with Norway, a good tit for tat to keep Norway onside with the frigates. They paid around £550m for three, at rating PC-6. That’s almost within our non-existant budget.
Thanks. I’d not seen the Jan Mayen class. Great reply.
It would be a nice call on the Norwegian Jan Mayen class.. massive intraoprability with Norway.. proven design.. hanger for 2 wildcats, AW101 size flight deck.. fitted for 57mm, 60 days of endurance… get 3.. move 2 down to the Falklands as South Atlantic guard ships ( 1 Falklands and one Antarctic) then bring the rivers home as an extra UK EEZ patrol asset.. then have one working direct with Norway for high north operations…..
3 at £550m to cover 3 areas of operation and free up the Rivers, that would be an excellent, economical move!
Publish the DIP and we’ll listen to your pie in the water discussions with slightly less disdain.
Yet another project that will come to nothing when it is time to sign off the budget. Every decade since the 1950’s the idea of a purpose built Ice Breaker /Antarctic Patrol Ship for the RN is floated, and every time it is deemed unaffordable a few years later.
E.g. Check Janes Fighting Ships 1964-65 for the ice breaker HMS Terra Nova. Tenders were sought from shipyards in April 1964 but the project stalled when Labour took power in 1965, before finally being cancelled in 1967.
What would a modern purpose built Ice Patrol Ship cost – £1 bn if constructed in the UK (Cammell Laird?), maybe half that the hull was built overseas?
If HMS Protector is replaced, it will surely be by another unstatisfistactiory “but its all we can afford” converted civilian vessel costing perhaps £100-200 mn.
if the result turns out to be anything like that project Lilly
then the result will probably bee the same outcome [cancel]
just a cold thought..
One of the obvious options would be to adopt a slightly modified version of the RRS Sir David Attenborough. Its Polar Class 4/5, a reasonable price tag (£200m in 2014), carries two helicopters, and is a decent size. Adding a basic military fit for the role (equivalent to an OPV) shouldn’t add too much complexity or cost. Ideally I’d love to see a few of them in service, to handle both the Antarctic and Arctic patrol roles. If we want future proofing, we could even redesign them to have a few exposed shipping container positions, allowing us to add more complex systems if required.
Make a fake deal with Russia, 2 UK carriers for 6 ice breakers. Then US will be forced to buy the carriers…… Just kidding
By the time all the blether is over then the treasury kicks the can down the road, there will be no sea ice in the north and even less ice in the south. Surprisingly Trump hasn’t tried to buy Antartica yet, probably because he hasn’t heard of it if its not in his colouring books.
Could you use the Sir David Attenborough for this role (formely: Boaty McBoatface, at least if the internet had it’s way. It was a more innocent time…)
He probably had a real problem when he reached for his green crayons to colour in Greenland and discovered its 80% ice sheet with snow and rock.