The Ministry of Defence has approved the design and manufacture of the largest and most powerful attack submarines the Royal Navy has ever operated.
The submarines will be built under the AUKUS pact – a trilateral security agreement between Australia, the UK and the US, designed to assist Australia in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines.
The pact also includes cooperation on artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, undersea capabilities and electronic warfare.
The UK’s next-generation nuclear-powered attack submarine programme, known as SSN-AUKUS, will see the construction of the largest and most powerful attack submarines the Royal Navy has ever operated, which will replace the Astute class currently in operation.
BAE Systems started early design work in 2021, but the £3.95bn funding will cover development work up to 2028. It will enable the defence firm to move into the detailed design phase of the programme and begin to procure items for its development.
Manufacture is expected to start at the end of the decade with the first SSN-AUKUS boat due to be delivered in the late 2030s.
The award will also fund infrastructure investment at BAE Systems’ site in Barrow-in-Furness, investment in its supply chain and recruitment of more than 5,000 people.
Rolls-Royce and Babcock will also receive a portion of the funding, with the former supplying the nuclear reactors for all UK and Australian submarines.
Defence secretary Grant Shapps said: “This multi-billion-pound investment in the AUKUS submarine programme will help deliver the long-term hunter-killer submarine capabilities the UK needs to maintain our strategic advantage and secure our leading place in a contested global order.
“I’m committed to backing our defence industry, because it’s only with the mission-critical support of businesses like BAE Systems that the UK can develop the advanced equipment our Armed Forces need to defend the British people in a more dangerous world.”
Charles Woodburn, BAE Systems’ chief executive, said: “We’re incredibly proud of our role in the delivery of this vitally important tri-nation submarine programme. This funding reinforces the government’s support to our UK submarine enterprise and allows us to mature the design, and invest in critical skills and infrastructure to support our long-term national security.”
BAE Systems has already delivered five of seven Astute class submarines to the Royal Navy, with the remaining two boats at advanced stages of construction. It is also designing and building the UK’s next-generation nuclear deterrent submarines, Dreadnought, with work underway on three of the four new boats.
