The Ministry of Defence has outlined measures it says are helping to accelerate delivery of the Royal Navy’s Type 31 frigates, including major investment in Babcock’s Rosyth shipyard and the creation of a new integration facility to reduce risk on the programme.
Responding to a written parliamentary question from Liberal Democrat MP James MacCleary, Defence Minister Luke Pollard said progress was being made on the Type 31 programme through “substantial investment” in Rosyth, where the ships are being built.
Pollard said the work includes “digitising the shipyard, new manufacturing facilities and a new purpose-built Assembly Hall that enables two T31s to be built simultaneously.”
He added that the MOD has also established a new Shore Integration Facility at Portsdown Technology Park, intended to support the integration of the ships’ combat systems and reduce risk before equipment is installed on the vessels.
According to Pollard, the facility is designed “to mitigate risks to the integration of the combat system.”
The minister said the MOD continues to work closely with Babcock as the prime contractor to ensure the programme meets requirements and delivers value for money, stating that officials are working to ensure the Type 31 programme delivers capability “at a value for money price, in a timescale that is competitive with other international warship procurement programmes.”
The Type 31 frigate, officially known as the Inspiration-class, is designed to provide the Royal Navy with a flexible general purpose warship able to operate globally across a wide range of tasks, including maritime security, escort operations, forward presence missions, and defence engagement. The class is based on Babcock’s Arrowhead 140 design, itself derived from the Danish Iver Huitfeldt-class, and is intended to deliver a capable platform at a lower unit cost than more complex specialist warships such as the Type 26.
Each ship is expected to displace around 5,700 tonnes and will be built around a modular design approach intended to support future upgrades over its service life. The frigates will be equipped with a Mk41 Vertical Launch System for missiles, a medium calibre main gun, and a mission bay capable of supporting additional payloads, boats, and unmanned systems, as well as a flight deck and hangar designed to operate a Merlin helicopter and support aviation operations.
Another slight positive – Active will be Rolled out of the Shed within the next few weeks 👍.
Hope all the upgrades to the Babcock yard is suggesting new orders beyond the 5 for the RN? Why do all that just for 5 ships? Hopefully Denmark and Sweden orders.
If the UK is going to go big on mk41s why not look at manufacturing them underlicence in the UK?
Yup, that’s what I thought.
That would be a good idea, Babcock already build Trident missile canisters at Rosyth so mk41 should be a doddle for them.
The Sweden proposal has the hulls built in Rosyth and the superstructures in Sweden. Assembly in UK before fit out in Sweden
I suspect that the reference to the “new purpose-built Assembly Hall” is a reference to the existing Venturer Hall, not the proposed new Ship Building Module Hall. The later couldn’t possibly be ready until 2028. With the RN’s fourth T31 due to be laid down next week, that’s too late to be a worthwhile investment without Babcock being certain of additional RN or export orders.
A UK follow on order would be nice, Type 31 is a large flexible platform and with Mk41 It provides further options to the fleet.
But thats too sensible so we will just have to hope for foreign orders……. with the expansion it does sound like something is in the pipeline though.
A second batch of T31s is arguably the quickest and most cost-effective option HMG have for reinforcing the fleet and showing resolve. 5 more frigates would make a considerable impact on ship availability, and most importantly (from the government’s point of view) it would let them trumpet on about “doubling the (T31) frigate fleet” and “increasing the number of escorts for the first time in a generation”.
I kind of doubt we’ll win the Swedish order. The FDI just seems better suited to their needs
Will the T-31 class eventually have/develop at least a rudimentary ASW capability, via Merlin sipping sonar and USV/UUV hosted systems? Otherwise, this class may progressively become more prey than predator, especially during solo operations. 🤔
…. dipping … 🙄
More likely via Proteus, with a possible sonobuoy dispenser for Wildcat, for search. Wildcat/Stingray and possibly ASROC for destroy.
With amount of global responsibility
Royal Navy have we really need 20 of
These ships we can leave type45/26
High end tasks
Go back to the 1860s and 79s and see how many ships we had in those days , never mind all the others types qe had , qe had 26 leaders, all built in about the same time its now taking to build just FIVE
Soŕy should have read 1960s and 70s
Govt and the RN might have to decide the relative strategic merits of more T31 versus more SSN in a budget constrained climate; T31 will be increasingly vulnerable to attack by submarines as they become more numerous. On an optimistic outlook can we really expect 12 SSN AND 24 escorts?
No we can’t. 19 escorts is workable and i’d take the 12 SSN any day.
I suspect that decision was taken with AUKUS. We won’t have 24 escorts but we should have 19 escorts + 5 ocean going patrol vessels doing the constabulary and global presence work that frigates used to do: plus hopefully a modest fleet of UK waters coastal Kongsberg type security vessels.🤞
NL has an in-depth look at the T31 build status, published yesterday, which is a good complement to the article above.
With a Navy Lookout article on the same subject and my catching a You Tube vid on the same thing a few days ago, Babcock is clearly on a charm offensive.
I would be good to see another 2 ordered maybe be with fitted with instead of fitted for specs to help alleviate the shortage in our Frigate numbers
Whatever is done. The manufacturer and fit-out of new Royal Navy ships of all types needs to be sped up. At the same time, a production line for the drone-type ships Ukraine has had so much success with (that it can be put out to sea for long periods around the UK, with anti-ship/anti-air/drone mines), need to be built and automated. I personally cannot see the need to place an AAW frigate in the path of the Russian bomber fleet when dozens of these small craft could be placed along the route to take out aerial threats as they fly over in all weathers. They would be cheaper to make and operate without the need to place British lives at the mercy of Russian subs/aircraft or land attack missiles.