UK Funds $290 Million To Support Next Gen Nuclear Submarine Design

The UK MOD has announced a £201 million (US$ 290 million) package to support further design work for the Royal Navy’s next generation of nuclear submarines.

The funding will enable BAE Systems to develop the design of the submarine, including the layout of equipment and systems, and to develop manufacturing processes, including the production of early prototypes, the MoD said in a statement Tuesday.

The announcement comes ahead of the next phase of the programme later this year.

The new submarine will be one of the stealthiest submarines in the world. It will also be the safest and most technically advanced submarine ever built in the UK, the statement said.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said, “The round the clock nuclear deterrent is as crucial to Britain’s national security now as it has ever been. We use it every day to deter extreme threats that cannot be countered by any other means.”

“When there are 17,000 nuclear weapons in the world, we can’t wish away threats we face now and those that may emerge in the 2030s, 2040s, and 2050s,” he added.

Chief of Materiel (Fleet) Vice Admiral Simon Lister added, “We are now in the detailed design stage of the most technologically advanced nuclear submarine in the history of the Royal Navy. Building on developments carried out by the MOD, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and Babcock, this funding will allow us to continue to move forwards with the programme.”

The funding is part of the overall £3.3 billion package announced in the last parliament for the Assessment Phase of the Successor submarine programme.

Four Vanguard submarines – which currently maintain the UK’s nuclear deterrent - will be replaced from the early 2030s.

Within the next four years all the UK’s submarines will be based in Scotland.