UK signs $4.9 billion contracts for AUKUS submarine program – air and naval defense

By Tim Martin

Belfast – The United Kingdom has awarded contracts worth a combined £4 billion ($4.9 billion) to three British industrial contractors for the design and production of nuclear-powered attack submarines. SSN AUKUS.

The five-year Detailed Design and Long Leads (D2L2) contracts awarded to BAE Systems, Babcock and Rolls Royce were announced by London on Sunday.

In a statement, the UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the contracts “aim to advance the program through the design, prototyping and procurement of key components for the UK’s first submarines”, paving the way for construction to begin in “years”.

In parallel with project activities, the BAE Systems submarine base at Barrow-in-Furness, northern England, and the Rolls-Royce nuclear reactor at Derby, northern England, will undergo development and expansion.

“The aim is to have the UK’s first submarines in service by the end of the 1990s. 2030 To replace current class ships TrickyThis is The first Australian submarines will follow in the early 2040s., the Ministry of Defense added. “They will be the largest, most advanced and most powerful attack submarines operated by the Royal Navy, combining world-leading sensors, design and weapons in a single submarine.”

Construction of submarines SSN AUKUS The United Kingdom is slated to “mainstream” the Barrow-in-Furness, with Australia building its own submarines in the country to replace its Barrow-in-Furness-class fleet. Collins. The MoD emphasized that Australia would “work to develop its undersea industrial base over the next decade” to meet this ambition.

Apart from saying that new sensors and weapons will be installed, AUKUS officials have not yet disclosed key details about the design of the future submarines.

In comparison, attack submarines Tricky In service with the United Kingdom are the Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles (TLAM) and the Spearfish heavy torpedoes. They are integrated with Sonar 2076 systems and CM010 Optronic masts manufactured by Thales.

Siddharth Kaushal, a researcher at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute, told Breaking Defense that the new submarines, if designed with provisions to launch hypersonic weapons, would provide a “deep land strike capability”. Options that the U.S. services or international partners can currently provide outside of strategic bombers.

“As this is the UK announcement of BAE Systems moving forward with the design SSN AUKUS Given the UK-led design, how much input will there be from Australians and indeed Americans at this stage of the process? [será crítico]Because keeping the costs of these submarines under control is one of the main concerns to ensure that there is a minimum number of differences between trades and submarines. SSN AUKUS Australians and British,” said Nick Childs, senior researcher on naval forces and maritime security at the International Strategic Studies (IISS), a UK-based defense and security think tank.

He added: “One of the key design parameters imposed on designers from the outset was balancing the ambition between a significant increase in the capabilities of existing submarines and how many people would be required to operate these submarines. Important business moves forward.

In an Oct. 1 company statement, BAE said the “next-generation project SSN AUKUS From the UK it will incorporate “the technology of the three countries, including cutting-edge US subsea technologies”, without further expansion.

The manufacturer noted that it has already delivered five of the seven class submarines Tricky For the Royal Navy, the other two ships are in “advanced stages of construction”.

BAE also has a contract to supply nuclear deterrent submarines fear Next-generation ships for the UK, work on three of the four ships currently underway.

The UK’s recent investment in AUKUS reflects a similar commitment by Australia to spend $3 billion in the US by 2028 and expand shipbuilding infrastructure.

Translation and Adaptation: DAN

Source: Breaking Protection

Editor’s note: Building a nuclear-powered submarine is not an easy task. Lay people criticize the Brazilian Navy’s “delay” in deployment SCPN Alvaro Alberto In production, criticizing without any basis, thinking that the nuclear part is simple. Major nations building new nuclear submarines today took years of mistakes and successes to get where they are. The Brazilian Navy, through its submarine program, has faced continuous difficulties inherent in the development of the technology for its production since the beginning of the project, as it is not sold by the currently dominant countries. I suggest that readers who criticize PROSUB for the sake of criticizing it should study the construction of nuclear-powered submarines in depth or refrain from trivializing it.