The British government has announced that the largest British military business, BAE Systems, has been awarded a contract to develop next-generation submarines valued at £3.95 billion (or USD 4.8 billion).
The British began creating a new class of nuclear attack submarines (SSNs) in September 2021, around the same time the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom declared their desire to join a strategic alliance known as AUKUS. Both BAE Systems and Rolls Royce were the recipients of two contracts totalling close to 200 million euros.
This required the two companies to conduct preliminary studies as part of the Submersible Ship Nuclear Replacement (SSNR) programme, even though the Astute class’s seven SSNs had not yet been delivered to the Royal Navy. The final one, HMS “Agincourt”, to be delivered in 2026 according to current projections, was named after the Battle of Agincourt.
The HMS Astute has been in service for more than a decade, and due to the difficulty of constructing nuclear submarines as well as the rapidity with which technological advancements are occurring, the preliminary work for the next generation of SSNs must begin immediately; the Royal Navy argued at the time.
Since then, it has been confirmed that the Australian Navy will have SSNs from this programme, but with American technologies, instead of the 12 “Attack” submarines, or Shortfin Barracuda, that Canberra had ordered from the French Naval Group before changing course following the announcement of the AUKUS pact.
On October 1st, the SSNR programme, now known as SSN-AUKUS, achieved a new benchmark in its development. The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced that it has begun the detailed design phase by awarding three contracts to BAE Systems, Rolls Royce (for nuclear propulsion), and Babcock.
With the help of these contracts, the programme will advance in design, prototyping, and acquiring long-term vital components for the first British submarines. According to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), this strategy will “guarantee stability and resilience” in the “national supply chain,” and it will also support thousands of employees in the UK who require highly specialised training.
The first submarines will be delivered to the United Kingdom in the late 2030s, and the first submarines will be delivered to Australia in the early 2040s. If you recall, the United States announced in March that it planned to sell three submarines of the Virginia class to Australia beginning in the early 2030s.
