Royal Navy makes rapid progress in £1.25bn plan to build five new Type 31 frigates after delay setbacks

Five of the new Type 31 ‘general purpose’ frigates are currently being developed for the navy, with hopes to have all the warships delivered by 2028.

The vessels will cost £250m each – cheaper than the more advanced Type 26 frigates’ price tag of more than £1bn a piece – and they are all expected to be based in Portsmouth.

But the project has been blighted by delays and setbacks, with a former head of the Royal Navy branding it a ‘national disgrace’ in February.

Defence giant Babcock secured the deal to build the new warships late last year following a bidding process that was blighted by delays.

And with work now pushing forward, a team of 15 industry experts have carried out a comprehensive review of the ship’s design.

Known as the ‘whole ship preliminary design review’, the industry chiefs spent 10 days scrutinising the plans to help move the frigates forward into their next, detailed design phase.

Graeme Thomson, Babcock Type 31 programme director said: ‘Completing the whole ship PDR is a key milestone for the Type 31 programme and signals our move into detailed design.

‘I’d like to thank all involved, a lot of hard work went into achieving this positive outcome. I look forward to the next stage in this exciting and challenging programme.’

This preliminary review was the culmination of a large number of small specific assessments that addressed the maturity of the individual systems that make up the Type 31, with experts reviewing designs and grilling engineers.

A report produced by Babcock added: ‘The independent board were impressed with the rate of progress made since contract award in November 2019, and the level of technical maturity of the design.

‘The engineering team in particular, and all contributors to the successful whole ship PDR, are to be commended for their efforts.’

The news comes as Babcock announced the construction of a new assembly hall capable of housing two Type 31s at their Rosyth facility in Scotland.

The Ministry of Defence has previously said it aims to have the first of the warships in the water by 2023.

Once completed, the frigates will feature the Sea Ceptor missile system, a combat system with a 4D air and surface surveillance and more.

They will replace the ageing Type 23 general purpose frigates, which are set to be phased out over the next decade.

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