The UK’s shipbuilding industry provides the UK Armed Forces and Border Force with vessels and systems that support the protection of the UK and its interests. The 2017 National Shipbuilding Strategy set out how the MOD would create the conditions for a competitive, productive and innovative naval shipbuilding
enterprise, capable of winning work in the domestic and overseas market and
supporting regional growth and prosperity.
While this ambition still holds true, the government recognises that in order to unlock the full potential of maritime engineering enterprise and maximise its contribution towards jobs, skills, the Union and levelling up, more needs to be done. For this reason, the Prime Minister appointed the Defence Secretary as the government’s Shipbuilding Tsar with responsibility for regenerating both the naval and commercial shipbuilding enterprise.
Working across government, the
Shipbuilding Tsar is cohering activity to achieve an innovative, efficient and competitive shipbuilding enterprise which is at the forefront of the technical and environmental innovations which drive the sector.
We recognise that we now need a
Shipbuilding Strategy which leverages the whole of government and reflects our more ambitious approach for the shipbuilding sector as a whole. The government will therefore publish an
update to its 2017 strategy, which will set out how the government intends to create the conditions for success for all parts of the enterprise, from shipyards building warships, to those building Offshore Wind vessels and the companies providing the systems and components which are so critical to our maritime capabilities.
As the most significant UK government procurer of vessels, the MOD has an integral role to play in delivering this strategy. This government’s ambition for the UK to be the foremost naval power in Europe brings with it an ambitious
shipbuilding pipeline. The demand signal we send through this pipeline has the potential to drive sustainable growth throughout the UK’s shipbuilding supply chain, protecting highly skilled jobs across the UK. As part of our strategy refresh, we intend to develop a
continuous shipbuilding pipeline and publish a 30-year plan for Naval and other government-owned vessels. A continuous pipeline will provide the sector with the confidence needed to encourage innovation, rapid adoption of technology, and investment within the supply chain to improve productivity and delivery.
The intent is to create a virtuous cycle of improvement across the maritime
ecosystem. By carefully phasing the programme, we will sustainably grow the capacity and capability of the UK
shipbuilding enterprise, potentially drawing on the expertise of international partners where appropriate. The
sustainable shipbuilding pipeline approach also allows UK industry to
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develop a highly skilled workforce to meet the demand, in turn boosting the
productivity and efficiency of the industry, for the benefit of Defence and making the industry more competitive in export
markets.
The first step on this journey is the Fleet Solid Support programme (three ships).
But the pipeline will also include:
• a Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance Ship, improving our ability to protect our underwater critical national infrastructure and improving our ability to detect threats in the North Atlantic;
• Up to five Type 32 frigates designed to protect territorial waters, provide persistent presence overseas and support Littoral Response Groups;
• Up to six Multi-Role Support Ships (MRSS), to provide the platforms to deliver Littoral Strike, including Maritime Special Operations, in the early 2030s;
• A new class Type 83 destroyer which will begin to replace the Type 45 destroyers in the late 2030s.
This is in addition to the eight Type 26 frigates being built on the Clyde and the five Type 31 frigates in Rosyth. Overall, the MOD’s shipbuilding investment will double over the life of this Parliament rising to over £1.7bn a year.
Since 2017, HMG’s policy for warship procurement has stated that for reasons of national security, Royal Navy warships would be designed, built and integrated in the UK and would be procured through competition between UK shipyards. It defined warships for acquisition purposes only as destroyers, frigates and aircraft carriers. All other naval and auxiliary ships would be subject to open
international competition unless there were compelling national security reasons for constraining them to UK suppliers.
HMG needs a shipbuilding enterprise with the ability to adapt to technology
developments and ensure the UK has the maritime capabilities needed to stay ahead of our adversaries. While the 2017 National Shipbuilding Strategy introduced competition to the naval shipbuilding sector, we recognise that we are still operating in an imperfect market.
To drive innovation and modernisation of the maritime industrial capabilities vital for our long-term operational independence, we have extended our naval vessel procurement policy as set out on the next page….
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Naval Procurement Policy
All Royal Navy ships and Royal Fleet Auxiliaries are operated by the UK in support of our national defence and security requirements. From frigates to naval auxiliaries, they contribute to the wide range of defence tasks, in peace or conflict; and it is entirely logical to view them as component parts of a broad maritime defence capability. For national security reasons, the UK needs to maintain a maritime enterprise with the industrial capabilities to design, manufacture, integrate, modify and support current and future naval ships (both Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary). The procurement
approach for each class will be determined on a case-by-case basis. As well as
considering the specific capability requirements, we will consider the long-term industrial impact of different options, including delivering value for money for our overall
programme and maintaining the key industrial capabilities required for operational independence. These considerations will determine whether the optimum approach would be a single source procurement, a UK competition, an international competition or a blended competitive approach. The chosen procurement approach will be
communicated with industry as early as possible to allow for forward planning.
Overall, we consider that a regular drumbeat of design and manufacturing work is
needed to maintain the industrial capabilities critical for our national security and to drive efficiencies which will reduce longer-term costs in the shipbuilding portfolio. Whether competed internationally or not, consistent with the government’s social value
procurement policy, the evaluation of options will include considering their relative contribution to UK social value, for instance the extent to which they create new skills and employment or increase resilience in the supply chain.
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