The Secretary of State for Defence, Phillip Hammond,
announced two contracts today, worth £47m and £32m, as the
programme’s annual report to parliament was published.
BAE Systems’ previous two contract awards – for £328m
and £315m respectively – were for the design of a replacement
submarine, which is continuing today at its site in Barrow-in-Furness,
Cumbria.
Tony Johns, Managing Director of BAE Systems Maritime – Submarines,
said: “The award of these first procurement contracts is a significant
milestone and further underlines the Government’s commitment
to BAE Systems and the submarine programme.
“The design of a nuclear powered submarine is incredibly complex
and we continue to make good progress in the engineering phase of
the programme. The first submarine is due to be in service by 2028,
so to achieve that target it’s essential we begin the procurement
process now to ensure we can start construction on time.”
Following the Government’s announcement in May 2011 that the
programme had passed its Initial Gate, it is now well into its third
year of a five-year design and development phase, during which the
submarine’s concept design and operational requirements are
being matured into a detailed design. The Main Gate decision is due
in 2016.
BAE Systems is working on the design with the MoD, Rolls Royce and
Babcock and combined the programme now employs over 2,000 people.
Approximately 1,300 are employed by BAE Systems and this number is
due to rise. In 2014 BAE Systems plans to recruit upwards of 540 additional
employees in a range of roles including Project Managers, Naval Architects,
Propulsion Engineers, Test and Commissioning Engineers and Detailed
Planners. This figure includes 240 apprentices, who will be recruited
to work on both the remaining Astute Class submarines and the Successor
programme.
