The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that the Type 26 and Type 31 frigate programmes remain on schedule for delivery.
Responding to parliamentary questions from Mark Francois MP, Minister of State for Defence Maria Eagle reaffirmed that both classes of frigates are progressing as planned, with eight Type 26s and five Type 31s due to enter service over the next decade.
Type 26 Frigates
When asked about the planned procurement of Type 26 frigates from BAE Systems, Eagle stated:
“The Strategic Defence Review will consider all Defence capability requirements in the context of current and future threats. The T26 programme remains on track to meet all user requirements and deliver eight world-class anti-submarine warfare frigates. All ships are expected to enter service between 2028 and 2035.”
Addressing the initial operating capability (IOC) date for the first Type 26, Eagle confirmed:
“On current plans, the construction of all eight Type 26 frigates is expected to be complete by the mid-2030s. HMS Glasgow’s Initial Operating Capability date remains October 2028.”
Type 31 Frigates
Regarding the procurement of five Type 31 frigates from Babcock, Eagle gave a near-identical response, confirming that:
“The Strategic Defence Review will consider all Defence capability requirements in the context of current and future threats. HMS Venturer will be the first in class of the Type 31 and is scheduled to be in service and ready for operations by the end of the decade. All five Type 31 ships are planned to be in service by the early 2030s.”
Future Procurement Still Under Review
While the Strategic Defence Review could influence future orders beyond the current commitments, Eagle’s responses indicate that there are no immediate changes to procurement numbers.
The government remains focused on delivering all 13 planned frigates while evaluating additional naval capability requirements in light of evolving security challenges.
The Royal Navy’s fleet modernisation will replace aging Type 23 frigates with the new vessels, reinforcing Britain’s maritime presence and shipbuilding industry.
Wow, Glasgow is still the best part of 4 years away…
Remember first in class trials take a long time even after commissioning so she will probably be commissioned in mid 2027 for initial operation capacity in oct 28. It’s worth remembering the later ships will not have this drawn out trails period.
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Ooh that’s nice
Have to wonder do they push Glasgow out and test her, work out issues and apply fixes to sister ship as found sort of like SpaceX- (Musk is tw*t btw) or do it like Boeing 3 times longer twice budget and still didn’t work properly.
The problem is relearning how to screw together a complex warship.
It was a close to forgotten skill….being expensively relearned in two places…..thankfully.
Things will speed up….we all hope…..
Or much derided Blue Origin take an age but when they launch actually get a payload to space first time while in 6 ‘attempts’ all Starship has got to half an orbit is a banana. Or ULA Vulcan who gave them 15 mths start through delays and get two near perfect useful payloads to orbit. Or even the ludicrously expensive SLS, one ridiculously expensive perfect launch and sends a spacecraft round the moon or would have if that craft hadn’t proved faulty. Take your point mind but the SpaceX way of doing things might look awesome when theymagically catch a booster because all those ‘improvements’ have made it so heavy it can’t actually afford to have legs, so no I hope that T-26 doesn’t take too much of a leaf out of the showman’s book, especially as starship is years behind schedule, don’t think we can’t afford to sink half a dozen before they get out of port and so overweight they can only carry enough fuel to circle the Channel Islands once.
I will however be very interested in how RocketLab do, be it later this year or into next because I reckon if they pull it off Neutron is going to be one hell of a launcher while Electron is getting an awful lot of business for smaller satellites. This company is really beginning to make waves without any of the snake-oil hype. Can certainly take a leaf out of their book on present evidence. As for T-26 yes they will learn from Glasgow no doubt and I’m sure update things in the follow on ships if obvious solutions/improvements are available in time. Did so with the carriers.
I seem to remember Musk promising Mars by 2024… wish he’d actually gone now.
Menawhile china can build 200+ ships a year… (granted not all military vessels)
I dont get why some of these components have such long lead times, 18+ months to build an engine or a sonar array, the level of atrophy to europes industry is insane.
Low level of shipbuilding in the uk means the yards run at a very gradual pace. If you built 5+ ships year for example, All the RN orders would be complete in 2/3 years and the yards would close for lack of work.
Most european shipbuilders in spain/italy/norway/france also build civil ships and lots of export orders, something we sorely lack.
That’s why continuous ongoing build is needed. Type 31, next batch should be ordered now, then add more type 26s, in addition to hopefully an order from Norway and we shall see where we go.
The yards could be speed up if the treasury would release funding earlier and allow the yards to gather pace. As it happens, why would they want to speed up as once these frigates are completed are we ready to go onto our next warship type. Nope.
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