Submarine contract is awarded to Devonport
GOVERNMENT contracts worth more than £2 billion have been awarded for the construction of the new Dreadnought nuclear submarines, which will be maintained in Plymouth and bring an economic boost to the city.
Engineering firms BAE and RollsRoyce have secured deals to begin the third phase in the development of the UK’s next-generation nuclear deterrent. The Dreadnought programme will replace the four submarines that currently provide the UK’s Trident nuclear missile continuous-at-sea deterrent. It will see four new submarines built in the UK and introduced from the 2030s, with a lifespan of about 30 years.
The Government has said the overall programme, from design to build, will support about 30,000 jobs across the country, including at Devonport Dockyard. It added that last year alone it supported about 13,500 jobs in the North West of England and a further 16,300 in the rest of the UK.
Devonport Dockyard operator Babcock International Plc has already secured a £34 million Government contract to work on the Dreadnought submarines, safeguarding 130 jobs in Plymouth and creating 30 more.
The company’s submarine operation at Devonport was given a two-year contract extension in 2021 to provide support to the Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA) for the new fleet of submarines and will carry out essential work on the Dreadnought programme.
Through the contract, Babcock will deliver the components that make up the Dreadnought support solution, designing the framework to provide the project management, and providing the whole-boat analysis and integrated logistics support needed to assist with future stages of the Dreadnought programme.
Meanwhile, a £2 billion, 10-year rebuild project, already under way at Devonport Dockyard, will see the creation of a Dreadnought Class Deep Maintenance Facility, which will enable work to be carried out on the submarines once they are in service.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said delivery phase three will see the first of the four new submarines, HMS Dreadnought, leave Barrow-in-Furness shipyard in Cumbria to begin sea trials.
The MoD said the newly awarded contract is an initial investment within a planned overall total of nearly £10 billion for the whole third phase of delivery.
The Dreadnought class submarines will be the largest class ever built for the Royal Navy and “one of the most complex machines ever built”, according to the MoD.
Defence minister Jeremy Quin said: “The Dreadnought class will be crucial to maintaining and safeguarding our national security, with the nuclear deterrent protecting every UK citizen from the most extreme threats, every minute of every day.
“Designed in the UK, built in the UK and supporting tens of thousands of jobs in the UK, the Dreadnought programme is a leading example of our commitment to defence manufacturing and will continue to boost British industry for decades to come.”