The UK Ministry of Defence has awarded a £4.2 billion ($7.37 billion) contract to BAE Systems to manufacture the next five City Class Type 26 frigates for the Royal Navy.
The five additional Type 26 ships – HMS Birmingham, HMS Sheffield, HMS Newcastle, HMS Edinburgh and HMS London – will join the first three already in build in Glasgow – HMS Glasgow, HMS Cardiff and HMS Belfast.
The first of class, HMS Glasgow is on track to enter the water later this year and due to be operational by the end of 2028.
UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the next-generation submarine hunters – which are designed for anti-submarine warfare and air defence – will ensure the “Royal Navy maintains its world-leading capability to protect and defend our nation at sea”, “galvanising the very best of British engineering, manufacturing and design”.
“The award of the Type 26 Batch 2 manufacture contract is another key milestone in the United Kingdom’s shipbuilding programme, reaffirming our commitment, alongside our industrial partners, to deliver a highly effective anti-submarine frigate fleet for the Royal Navy,” Vice Admiral Paul Marshall, Director General Ships for the MOD’s Defence Equipment and Supply organisation, added.
The Type 26s will replace the eight Type 23 frigates currently in service and are expected to serve for at least 25 years, taking the class into the 2060s
According to a Royal Navy release, lessons learned during the build of the first batch of Type 26s, as well as improved assembly facilities – including a new undercover construction hall – will enable the final five new frigates to be built “for around two-thirds the cost of the initial trio, and they will be built and delivered to the fleet more quickly.”
Each frigate will reportedly be equipped with the Sea Ceptor missile defence system, a 5in medium calibre main gun, a Merlin or Wildcat helicopter, medium-range radar, powerful array sonars, a Mk41 vertical launch silo for missile systems, and a ‘mission bay’ allowing the ships to carry adaptable ‘pods’ for wide-ranging operations, such as disaster relief, drones, and mine warfare.
BAE Systems Australia is building nine anti-submarine warfare frigates based on the UK Type 26 design – known as the Hunter class – for the Royal Australian Navy.
The Hunter class will begin entering service in the late 2020s, replacing the eight Anzac class frigates which have been in service since 1996.
