Spanish-British shipyard team wins bid for UK naval logistics fleet

LONDON — An Anglo-Spanish industry team is the Royal Navy’s preferred bidder to build a fleet of logistics ships to support the service’s new aircraft carriers.

Belfast, Northern Ireland-based shipbuilder Harland and Wolff, top British warship designer BMT and Spain’s Navantia, together known as Team Resolute, on Wednesday were announced the winners of a competition to build three large support vessels.

Called Fleet Solid Support ships, construction of the first of the vessels in the £1.6 billion ($1.9 billion) program is scheduled to get underway in 2025, with all three vessels operational by 2032.

Measuring 216 meters in length, the ships will be operated by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, the Royal Navy’s support arm, providing munitions, stores and provisions to two new aircraft carriers, destroyers and frigates deployed at sea.

The deal remains subject to Treasury and ministerial approval.

The requirement has long been at the center of a row between the government on the one side and unions and the Labour opposition on the other over whether the ships should be subject to open, international competition or reserved for the British shipbuilding industry.

At one point the Conservatives even argued the logistics vessels weren’t warships in order to claim under European Union rules they had to allow foreign bids.

As it turned out the MoD seems to have settled on a compromise whereby foreign bidders were allowed but a significant portion of the ships had to be built locally in order to meet social prosperity requirements.

Team Resolute says it will invest £77 million ($92 million) in shipyard infrastructure, making Harland and Wolff competitive for future domestic and export orders.

Navantia will lead the build program, although the majority of the blocks and modules for the ships will be undertaken at Harland and Wolff’s facilities in Belfast, its smaller southwest England yard at Appledore and two fabrication companies purchased by InfraStrata at Methil and Arnish. Build work will also take place at Navantia’s shipyard in Cadiz, Spain, in a collaboration that allows for key skills and technology transfer to Harland and Wolff.

The Appledore yard had been dormant after it was mothballed by previous owner Babcock but was acquired by Harland and Wolff owner InfraStrata in 2020.

The selection of Harland and Wolff for much of the construction work is a remarkable turnaround for the company that came close to closure in 2019 as commercial repair and offshore work dwindled.

The yard was largely saved by a workers sit-in.

The Belfast yard, made famous by the fact it built the Titanic, has not constructed a warship for decades but will rely on the transfer of Navantia’s industrial skills and capabilities.

The deal is reckoned to create around 2,000 jobs in the British supply chain. Many of those jobs will be based at Harland and Wolff where the company currently only has a small workforce.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, in Belfast for the announcement, said the deal would be a big boost for British shipbuilding capabilities.

“Building on ambitions laid out in the national shipbuilding strategy, this contract will bolster technology transfer and key skills from a world-renowned shipbuilder, crucial in the modernization of British shipyards,”said Wallace.

GMB, the shipbuilding union, welcomed the announcement but said they remain concerned about the government’s pledge over the amount of work coming to Britain.

“Ministers have finally conceded a ‘significant’ amount of the FSS [Fleet Solid Support] work will be done at home,” said the union in a statement. “The problem is that they don’t define ‘significant’ by volume or value and they don’t tell us what guarantees or enforceability there is. Due diligence must be rigorous.”

Announcement of the Navantia-led partnership selection comes just 24 hours after the MoD signed a £4.2 billion ($5 billion) deal with BAE Systems to build five Type 26 anti submarine warfare ships for the Royal Navy.

The spending spree boosting key British maritime assets comes ahead of the government’s autumn budget announcement Nov. 17 which is expected provide bad news for defense in general.

New Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has already made it clear the commitment by the previous government, led by Liz Truss, to grow defense spending to 3% of gross domestic has been abandoned, at least for the foreseeable future.

No extra money is likely to be found for bolstering British defense capabilities in the face of inflation now eating into the budget at over 11%.

Andrew Chuter is the United Kingdom correspondent for Defense News.

伦敦——英国皇家海军已选定一家英西合资的工业团队，为其建造一支后勤船队，以支持其新型航空母舰的建造。

总部位于北爱尔兰贝尔法斯特的造船厂哈兰德与沃尔夫、英国顶级军舰设计公司BMT和西班牙纳凡蒂亚，三者统称为“坚毅团队”，于周三被宣布为建造三艘大型支援舰的竞赛的获胜者。

这些被称为“舰队固体支援舰”的舰艇，是耗资 16 亿英镑（19 亿美元）的计划中的首艘舰艇，计划于 2025 年开始建造，所有三艘舰艇将于 2032 年投入使用。

这些舰艇长 216 米，将由皇家海军的支援部队——皇家舰队辅助队操作，为部署在海上的两艘新航空母舰、驱逐舰和护卫舰提供弹药、物资和补给。

该交易仍需财政部和部长级官员批准。

长期以来，这一要求一直是政府与工会和工党反对派之间争论的焦点，争论的焦点在于这些船舶是否应该接受公开的国际竞争，还是应该保留给英国造船业。

保守党甚至一度辩称，这些后勤船只不是军舰，以此声称根据欧盟规定，他们必须允许外国投标。

最终，国防部似乎达成了一项妥协方案，允许外国竞标者参与，但为了满足社会繁荣的要求，相当一部分舰艇必须在本地建造。

Team Resolute 表示，将投资 7700 万英镑（9200 万美元）用于造船厂基础设施建设，使哈兰德与沃尔夫造船厂在未来的国内和出口订单中更具竞争力。

纳凡蒂亚将主导建造项目，但船舶的大部分模块和构件将在哈兰德与沃尔夫位于贝尔法斯特的工厂、其位于英格兰西南部阿普尔多尔的规模较小的船厂以及InfraStrata收购的位于梅西尔和阿尼什的两家制造公司完成。建造工作也将在纳凡蒂亚位于西班牙加的斯的船厂进行，这种合作模式能够将关键技能和技术转移给哈兰德与沃尔夫。

Appledore 造船厂在被前所有者 Babcock 封存后一直处于闲置状态，但在 2020 年被 Harland and Wolff 的所有者 InfraStrata 收购。

哈兰德与沃尔夫公司被选中承担大部分建设工作，对于这家在 2019 年因商业维修和海上作业减少而濒临倒闭的公司来说，是一个了不起的转机。

工人们的静坐抗议很大程度上保住了这个院子。

贝尔法斯特造船厂因建造泰坦尼克号而闻名，几十年来一直没有建造过军舰，但它将依靠纳凡蒂亚公司的工业技能和能力的转移。

预计这项交易将为英国供应链创造约2000个就业岗位。其中许多岗位将设在哈兰德与沃尔夫造船厂，该公司目前在该公司仅有少量员工。

国防大臣本·华莱士在贝尔法斯特宣布这一消息时表示，这项协议将极大地提升英国的造船能力。

华莱士说：“这份合同建立在国家造船战略中提出的雄心壮志之上，将加强来自世界知名造船厂的技术转让和关键技能，这对英国造船厂的现代化至关重要。”

造船工会 GMB 对这一声明表示欢迎，但表示他们仍然对政府关于英国将有多少工作机会的承诺感到担忧。

工会在一份声明中表示：“部长们终于承认，相当一部分舰队固体支持（FSS）工作将在国内完成。问题在于，他们没有用数量或价值来定义‘相当一部分’，也没有告诉我们有哪些保证或可执行措施。尽职调查必须严格进行。”

就在国防部与 BAE 系统公司签署价值 42 亿英镑（50 亿美元）的协议，为英国皇家海军建造五艘 26 型反潜战舰的 24 小时后，纳凡蒂亚公司牵头宣布了合作方案的选择。

在政府将于 11 月 17 日公布秋季预算案之前，政府大力投资以增强英国关键海上资产，预计该预算案将给国防带来坏消息。

新任首相里希·苏纳克已经明确表示，前任政府（由利兹·特拉斯领导）将国防开支提高到国内生产总值3%的承诺已被放弃，至少在可预见的未来不会再实现了。

鉴于通货膨胀率目前已超过 11%，英国预算正遭受严重侵蚀，因此不太可能找到额外的资金来加强英国的国防能力。

Andrew Chuter 是《防务新闻》的英国记者。