UK Type 31 Frigate to cost no more than �250 Million each

[Admiral John Byng]

https://www.ft.com/content/a78d9ed6-925 ... d2f0ebb7f0

Seems a bit too cheap to me.

[Jabberwock]

Apparently they have just started to chop down the trees in the New forest to lay the first keel.

Cheers, Jabb

[Admiral John Byng]

[quote="Jabberwock"]Apparently they have just started to chop down the trees in the New forest to lay the first keel.

Cheers, Jabb[/quote

[Haijun watcher]

This would make sense, considering the UK is a part of the Five Power Defence Arrangements alliance (FPDA) that also includes fellow Commonwealth member nations Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore.

Timmy C, if you are reading this, have you ever wondered why Canada hasn't joined FPDA yet, considering we send a frigate to show the flag throughout Southeast Asia every year? Our historical ties to the Commonwealth should be reason enough, aside from Canada's trade links with many nations in the region.

UK Defence Journal

First Sea Lord suggests Type 31 Frigates may be based in South East Asia
By
George Allison -
September 11, 2017

The information regarding plans for the Type 31 frigate comes to light in a speech by Admiral Sir Philip Jones, First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, delivered at DSEI 2017.

The following is an excerpt of the speech.

�Meanwhile, the Type 26 frigate is a genuine contender for both the Australian and New Zealand future frigate programmes and the Type 31e could meet the requirements of other smaller regional navies.

(...SNIPPED)

[Admiral John Byng]

This is pure fantasy! The article refers to a "growing navy". The opposite is true. The RN has shrunk and shrunk over the past decade to the point now that it cannot provide enough engineering staff for its ships and there is a general manpower shortage.

The Type 26 is late and the Type 31 is a last minute replacement for the more capable frigates and is likely to turn out to be an OPV on steroids rather than a true frigate.

Even before Brexit is attained there is a no money in the budget for public services (including defence) and I see no pot of gold on the horizon.

[Haijun watcher]

Even before Brexit is attained there is a no money in the budget for public services (including defence) and I see no pot of gold on the horizon.

Do you see Brexit as part of the reason behind the budget shortfall? I seem to recall your MoD been having budget troubles and making drastic cuts for the last decade.

[Admiral John Byng]

Even before Brexit is attained there is a no money in the budget for public services (including defence) and I see no pot of gold on the horizon.

Do you see Brexit as part of the reason behind the budget shortfall? I seem to recall your MoD been having budget troubles and making drastic cuts for the last decade.

No, that is why I said even before Brexit. It is not clear what effect Brexit will have on the MoD budget but it is very unlikely to make more money available than now. Many problems in the MoD go a long way back but the recent trouble is because of a huge deficit they incurred. It is a very poorly run department and all governments for the past three decades at least, are to blame for allowing it to go on.

[Haijun watcher]

Naval Today

BAE Systems teams with Cammell Laird for UK Type 31 frigate build

Cammell Laird and BAE Systems announced an agreement to collaborate on the construction of Royal Navy�s future Type 31 frigates.

Commercial shipbuilder Cammell Laird would act as prime contractor while BAE Systems would be supplying its warship design and combat systems expertise.

(...SNIPPED)

[Haijun watcher]

UK Defence Journal

Type 31e Frigate contract notice issued for 5 ships at a �firm price of �1.25 billion�
By
George Allison -
February 27, 2018

(...SNIPPED)

The notice outlines the requirements:

The T31e will be a General Purpose Frigate, providing an enduring and continuous worldwide maritime security presence in several forward operating areas and releasing other, more complex warships to their primary roles.
The T31e will carry out various maritime interdiction tasks, such as counter drugs and counter piracy. It will also carry out defence engagement activities, such as port visits and official entertainment, demonstrations of military capability and participation in allied training exercises.
It must be ready to respond to emergent events, such as natural disasters or evacuation of non-combatants and will routinely carry specialist emergency relief stores in certain operating areas.
The T31e design will need to be adaptable, providing evolution paths for future capability to enable growth of the destroyer and frigate numbers into the 2030s, and to address export customers� needs.

(...SNIPPED)

[Haijun watcher]

UK Defence Journal

BAE showcase Type 31e design to international audiences at DIMDEX 2018
By
George Allison -
March 9, 2018

Visitors to DIMDEX, the Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition & Conference, will be able to see BAE Systems proposed design for the Type 31e frigate competition in the UK as the company hopes to attract international orders.

BAE Systems says it has brought together its warship design and engineering capability and combat systems expertise with Cammell Laird, the commercial shipbuilder, in a Teaming Agreement to bid for the contract to deliver Type 31e, the UK�s adaptable general purpose frigate.

(...SNIPPED)

[Haijun watcher]

Defense News

BAE Systems unveils its design for the Type 31 frigate for export
By: Chirine Mouchantaf ? 15 hours ago

DOHA, Qatar � For the first time ever, British company BAE Systems launched its proposed design for the Type 31e (e for export) frigate competition outside the United Kingdom.

The Type 31e frigate contender made its international debut at the Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference held earlier this week, coinciding with the release of the pre-qualification questionnaire for the program�s competitive design phase by the U.K. Ministry of Defence.

BAE is in a joint bid for the Type 31e contract with Liverpool shipbuilder Cammell Laird. The design is in part based on the Khareef class of corvettes delivered to the Omani navy by BAE.


(...SNIPPED)

[maxim]

The Type 31 program was suspended:
https://navaltoday.com/2018/07/25/uk-mo ... e-program/
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/type-31 ... suspended/

The given reason is lack of �compliant bids�, but apparently there was no money assigned to the program... Great planing.

[Admiral John Byng]

Typical pathetic ploy by a failed government that cannot deliver anything.
They set an unrealistic price cap for each frigate and through gross incompetence do not secure funds for the programme and this is the result.

It is no coincidence that this same government has given the go-ahead for a project to replace the SSBNs which will produce four submarines costing between �8 Billion and �10 Billion each!

At a time when a foreign power has murdered a British citizen on British soil using a chemical nerve-agent, the only answer from the UK is that we are a nuclear power.

A M.A.D. policy from an insane government!

[maxim]

Soon they will lose the EU as a scapegoat for their own failures.

[Haijun watcher]

A belated update: program restarted.

UK Defence Journal

Type 31e Frigate programme restarted
By
George Allison -
August 22, 2018

The Type 31e programme, which could see sections of the ships built in Scotland and England, has been restarted.

An MoD spokesperson said that a prior information notice has been issued to industry and a new contract notice has been issued.

�We have issued a Prior Information Notice for our new Type 31e fleet and plan to start discussions with industry next week to ensure we do not lose any momentum. There have been no changes in our plans to procure a first batch of five new Type 31e frigates to grow our Royal Navy. We still want the first ship delivered by 2023 and are confident that industry will meet the challenge of providing them for the price tag we�ve set.�

(...SNIPPED)

[Haijun watcher]

UK Defence Journal

Type 31e Frigates to be ordered by �December 2019�
By George Allison
November 15, 2018
Confirmation has been given on when the orders for new Type 31e Frigates and the Fleet solid Support Ships will be ordered.
Kevan Jones, MP for North Durham asked:
�To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department�s latest timetables are for the orders of (a) Type 31e (first batch), and (b) Fleet Solid Support vessels.�
Stuart Andrew Assistant Whip and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence answered:
�We plan to award a contract for Type 31e by December 2019 and for the Fleet Solid Support ships in 2020.�
(...SNIPPED)

[Admiral John Byng]

I wonder if it will happen this time?

[gms]

I wonder how the 250 million pound goal can be achieved unless the ship is downgraded to a corvette. This is not such a bad thing as Russia seems to have taken this route. Big warships are expensive and in the future only China will be able to afford them by keeping the costs down, which no one else is able to do.

[maxim]

The question would be what kind of sensors or weapons would not be added - a smaller hull with the same systems (the Russian approach) does not make a ship much cheaper.

[Admiral John Byng]

The �250 Million price tag is unattainable for a frigate. I suspect that the hulls might get built (some at least) but they will not have the weapons fitted so they will be little more than glorified OPVs in the tradition of "for, but not with".

It may be that they are never going to be frigates in any meaningful sense of the term. Once Brexit is achieved then money for such fripperies as weapons for these ships is likely to be even harder to come by.

Of course, the plan to purchase them may simply be dumped as the government thinks that SSBNs are enough to secure the defence of the UK.