BAE Wins $272 Million UK Navy’s Final Phase Of Successor Submarine Design

BAE Systems announced Wednesday that it has won additional funding of £257M to cover the final phase of work to design a successor to the UK Royal Navy’s Vanguard class submarines.

This follows previous contracts awarded to BAE Systems in 2012 valued at £328M and £315M to commence initial design.

Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said: “It is the responsibility of the British Government to protect its citizens and provide this vital line of defense. It is therefore crucial that we continue to invest in the Successor programme to be ready for a final decision on renewal next year.

The contracts fund the next stage of design work for the new class of submarines, designed to carry the UK's independent nuclear deterrent. The program recently passed a major design review and is now more than halfway through its five-year Assessment Phase.

Tony Johns, the Managing Director at BAE Systems' Submarines, said: "Designing a new, nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine is one of the most challenging engineering projects in the world today. This funding will now allow us to mature the design over the next 12 months to enable us to start construction in 2016."

BAE Systems' is also building the Astute class - seven nuclear-powered attack submarines for the Royal Navy.