The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Bid to bag frigate work for Rosyth dockyard
ALLIANCE: Babcock and partners looking to secure £1.2 billion Type 31 warship order
Engineering giant Babcock is bidding to bring part of the £1.2 billion Type 31 frigate building programme to Fife.
The group has formed a ‘Team 31’ alliance with Thales, BMT, Harland & Wolff and Ferguson Marine in the hope of securing the £1.2bn contract from the Ministry of Defence to build the new fleet of general-purpose frigates.
BAE Systems and Cammell Laird are already in the race, having declared in October they were making a joint bid to win the Type 31e contract.
The ships are being procured through a competitive tender process as part of the national shipbuilding strategy unveiled by former Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon in September.
The first tranche of five ships to be built come with a ceiling price of no more than £250 million per vessel.
The Navy expects the first of the Type 31es to be in service by 2023.
Babcock yesterday said, if successful, work would be “shared across the UK”.
The group’s dockyards facility at Rosyth– the location where the Royal Navy’s flagship Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier fleet have been assembled – would be among the beneficiaries.
The move comes just six weeks after The Courier revealed that 250 jobs at Rosyth were being axed as the aircraft carrier contract moved into its final phase.
Ferguson Marine’s yard on the Clyde will also be in line for a boost if the Team 31 bid is successful.
“Team 31 will allow Babcock and Thales to take forward the key lessons from the Aircraft Carrier Alliance and apply them in a new and highly capable team with Harland & Wolff, BMT and Ferguson Marine,” said Babcock chief executive Archie Bethel.
“We firmly believe that our combined skills can deliver an affordable and effective Type31e Frigate programme for the Royal Navy and offer something new and exciting in the export market.
“With a high degree of UK content and the use of innovative technologies, we believe that our approach will deliver real benefits to UK plc.”
Thales UK chief executive Victor Chavez said: “Thales UK is delighted to be working with Babcock and our partners as part of Team 31.
“We recognise the diversity of roles anticipated for Type 31e and, together, we will create an exciting, innovative and flexible capability for the Royal Navy based on the best of UK and international technologies in an open-system architecture that will ensure long-term value for money.”