Barrow submarine announcement expected this week
Last updated at 15:33, Monday, 21 May 2012
Ministers are expected to announce this week which companies have been awarded £350m of contracts to begin design work on a new fleet of submarines to carry the UK's nuclear deterrent.
Government sources say the contract will be awarded to British companies and will help create and sustain 1,900 jobs in the submarine-building industry.
The deterrent is currently deployed on board Barrow-built Vanguard class submarines.
The new generation of missile-carrying submarines is expected to cost up to £25bn in cash terms and the first of the four replacement submarines is planned to enter service in 2028.
The programme to build the seven Astute boats at BAE's Barrow shipyard was slowed to avoid a “production gap” in the submarine industry following the decision in the government’s Strategic Defence and Security Review to delay the replacement of the Trident nuclear deterrent fleet until late 2028.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed an announcement is expected to be made later this week.
A spokesman at BAE in Barrow said the company will not be commenting until the official announcement.
First published at 10:49, Monday, 21 May 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk
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Nice to see the successor program funding creeping in under the carpet !! However..
But on a more interesting note: Researchers are already looking for an alternative to the Trident Missile, because in 2028 it will have 38yr old solid rocket full inside. whilst the successor will be build, by 2028 we 'could' have our very own Nuclear missile to go into it instead. One area being looked at is a 'twice as big diameter' Skylark Missile, (the Skylark is a British research missile with a very very long history and over 400 successful space flights). If the government funded this it would be really funny, because the company used to belong to BAE but BAE sold it :Ptaking into account the 'VERY' Low amount of companies in the Furness area that actually have any more than 10% of there workload at BAE, whilst it looks good on paper there will be very little change to the job market in and around Barrow...
Posted by S G Williams BEng(hons) on 21 May 2012 at 19:20