BAE Systems Wins UK MoD Contract To Supply Three Offshore Patrol Vessels

BAE Systems has been awarded a 348 million-pound contract by the British government to build three new Offshore Patrol Vessels, formalising an initial deal agreed last year, according to Reuters.

The vessels, which will be used in counter-terrorism, counter-piracy and anti-smuggling operations, will be built at BAE Systems’ shipyards on the Clyde in Scotland, safeguarding 800 jobs, Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) said on Tuesday.

The shipbuilders who will work on the new vessels are currently involved in manufacturing the second of two aircraft carriers which Britain has ordered.

“UK warships are only built in UK shipyards. This multi-million pound contract shows our commitment to investing in new ships for the Royal Navy and maintaining in the UK the expertise needed to build the warships of the future,” Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said in a statement.

The new Offshore Patrol Vessels are being built under a deal between BAE Systems and the MOD struck in 2009 which stated that the MOD would have been liable to pay for any periods when there was no work taking place at UK shipyards.

“The cost of building the ships is funded from money that would have been used to pay for idle capacity, finance redundancies and meet the cost of industrial restructuring,” the MOD said last November when the plan for the three new vessels was first announced.