Manchester — Britain has awarded BAE Systems a £4bn contract as part of the Aukus programme with Australia and the US to build attack submarines, defence minister Grant Shapps and the company said on Sunday.
The US, Australia and Britain in March unveiled details of the Aukus plan to provide Australia with nuclear-powered attack submarines from the early 2030s to help counter China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region.
Britain, which will also operate the submarines, is pivoting its foreign and defence policy towards Indo-Pacific and is also seeking trade deals with fast-growing economies there after it left the EU.
BAE Systems, which has said Aukus will be “significant” for the company, said in a statement the defence ministry had awarded it the funding to cover development work to 2028, allowing it to start detailed design work on the submarines.
“This multi-billion pound investment in the Aukus submarine programme will help deliver the long term hunter-killer submarine capabilities the UK needs,” Shapps said in the statement.
The contract will secure funding for infrastructure work at the BAE Systems site in Barrow-in-Furness, northwest England, and the company said it would help fund 5,000 jobs.
BAE Systems, Britain’s biggest defence contractor, said manufacturing of the submarines would start towards the end of the decade, with the first SSN-Aukus vessel due to be delivered in the late 2030s.
“This funding reinforces the government’s support to our UK submarine enterprise and allows us to mature the design, and invest in critical skills and infrastructure to support our long-term national security,” said BAE Systems CEO Charles Woodburn.
Reuters
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