The Royal Navy’s £2.5 billion plan for five new warships set to make the UK “the foremost naval power in Europe” is in its concept phase, the Ministry of Defence has confrimed.
Five frigates are set to be built at the Babcock International in Rosyth, Scotland, under the Royal Navy’s Type 32 frigate programme.
The new class of warships will expand the Navy’s escort fleet from 19 to 24 vessels by the 2030s.
They are set to help test new weapons technology that could be deployed from the vessels, such as advanced directed-energy weapons or new radar systems.
An unmanned capacity is expected on their systems, in line with a growing trend as military technology modernises.
This could protect the fleet from emerging threats including hypersonic missiles or cyber warfare.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson first officially announced plans to bolster the navy fleet in November 2020, where he vowed to make Britain the “foremost naval power in Europe”.
But the ships remain in their early development stage, with the military still working out a timetable for designs and procurement.
The Navy said in a statement: “The Type 32 frigate programme is in the concept phase and has not yet reached the level of maturity to allow publication of a specific timetable for design and procurement.
“This is consistent with a programme of this size and complexity at this early stage in its development.”
Maria Eagle, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Defence, has said it would be “inappropriate” for the MOD to provide additional details of the project as it is still under review.
Work on the frigates had been scheduled to begin in 2028 in a project set to employ more than 1,200 staff and help retain thousands of jobs in the supply chain.
The Scottish National Party (SNP) has warned it could be “catastrophic” and put thousands of Scottish jobs at risk after fears emerged the project could get dropped.
SNP Defence spokesperson Dave Doogan said last year: “The Ministry of Defence (MoD) habitually vires money from one budget allocation to shore up another more immediate overspend, only to subsequently reflate the donor budget at a later date. It’s a dysfunctional way of accounting but they seem wedded to it.
“I very much hope that is what the Admiralty are doing with Type 32 because cancelling this work would be catastrophic in operational terms for the Royal Navy and in industrial strategy terms for Rosyth, the wider supply chain and shipbuilding in general.