U.K. MoD selects preferred bidder for 3 fleet support ships

Fleet Solid Support vessels will be built to a BMT design. [Image : BMT]

The U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD) has selected British-led Team Resolute, comprising BMT, Harland & Wolff and Navantia U.K., as the preferred bidder to deliver three Fleet Solid Support (FSS) support ships to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA). Subject to Treasury and Ministerial approval, Team Resolute will be awarded a GBP 1.6 billion (about $1.9 billion contract (before inflation) to manufacture the vessels, which will provide munitions, stores and provisions to the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers, destroyers and frigates deployed at sea.

The announcement is a second shot in the arm for U.K. naval shipbuilding, coming hard on the heels of yesterday’s award of a $5 billion five frigate contract to BAE Systems.

According to the MoD, under the Team Resolute award, GBP 77 million (about $91.5 million) will be invested in shipyard infrastructure to support the British shipbuilding sector, with the investment creating one of the most advanced yards in the U.K., significant for future export and domestic shipbuilding and offshore opportunities.

The entire final assembly for all three ships will be completed at Harland & Wolff’s shipyard in Belfast, with the three 216 meter long vessels – each the length of two Premier League soccer pitches – built to Bath-based BMT’s entirely British design.

The majority of the blocks and modules for the ships will be constructed at Harland & Wolff’s facilities in Belfast and Appledore, with components to be manufactured in their other delivery centers in Methil and Arnish. This program, which will also support a significant British-based supply chain, will be undertaken in collaboration with Spanish shipbuilder, Navantia. Build work will also take place at Navantia’s shipyard in Cadiz in Spain, in a collaboration that, says MoD, allows for key skills and technology transfer from a world-leading auxiliary shipbuilder.

While, as might be expected, today’s announcement stresses the investment benefits for the U.K. shipbuilding industry, it is rather quiet about how big a piece of the financial pie will go to Spanish state-owned Navantia.

Navantia U.K. will act as the prime contractor of the consortium with transfer of Navantia’s digital shipyard knowledge to Harland & Wolff supporting the modernization and availability of the Belfast shipyard as a sovereign asset with a highly skilled workforce capable of competing and exporting globally. BMT will be responsible for the ship design ahead of manufacture and will deliver the integrated logistic support package.

“Team Resolute is proud to have been selected as preferred bidder to provide the Royal Fleet Auxiliary with three state-of-the-art, adaptable ships which will fulfill the Royal Navy’s needs while strengthening U.K. sovereign design and shipbuilding capability, as well as generating around £1.4 billion in national social and economic value,” said Harland & Wolff group CEO John Wood.

The ships will be the second longest U.K. military vessels behind the two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. They will have commonality with the RFA’s Tide class fleet tankers, also built to a BMT design.

Designed to support net carbon zero by the end of their 30-year service lives, the RFA vessels will be equipped with energy efficient technologies to reduce power demand and will have the capability to reduce their carbon intensity by adopting low-carbon, non-fossil fuels and future energy sources.

Production is due to start in 2025 and all three support ships are expected to be operational by 2032. The manufacturing contract is due to be awarded by the first quarter of 2023, subject to completion of a successful preferred bidder stage and final approvals