£300M Investment For UK Submarine Industry 14.03.14
52The UK's submarine industry is to benefit from more than £300 million of investment to enable it to build the Royal Navy's next generation of nuclear submarines.
Over the next eight years BAE Systems' boat yard in Barrow-in-Furness will undergo a transformation, part funded by the Ministry of Defence, to improve the infrastructure at the site, which has been making submarines for over a century.
Around 850 contractors will work on the development at its peak to replace older buildings with newer, larger, state of the art facilities to allow the construction of the UK's future nuclear deterrent submarines, known as Successor.
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond made the announcement, alongside his Australian counterpart, on a visit to the site during which he also saw the progress that is being made with the Royal Navy's Astute class attack submarines. After steel was recently cut on the seventh boat, there are now five Astute class submarines in build at Barrow.
The first two boats in class, Astute and Ambush are already in service with the Royal Navy and the Defence Secretary has also today announced a £23 million contract with BAE Systems to provide in-service support, maintenance and technical assistance to the Astute class boats over the next five years.