Wartime footing is considered to speed up Type 31 frigate production
Also in this email:
- Streeting in Berlin to discuss joint development of long-range missiles
- Healey calls 3pc defence spending plan a ‘target’, not a promise
- German banks want Berlin to join Canada-led ‘bomb bank’
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Babcock could shift to a “wartime footing” to speed up construction of the much-delayed and over-budget Type 31 frigates to help plug the gap in the size of the Royal Navy.
According to the Times, defence chiefs are looking at ways to accelerate production of the five-ship programme of general-purpose frigates, as the existing number of vessels in service falls due to retirements of ageing ships which have served more than a decade over their intended design lives.
Babcock’s Rosyth shipyard, where the Type 31s are being built, could see staff working double shifts, overtime or there could be a recruitment programme to speed up the work.
However, this is likely to require additional funding, a major hurdle with the UK struggling to fund military spending and Babcock having revealed in its annual results that the project had become loss-making.
The company said it would take a £140m hit on the Type 31 because of a combination of design changes, sections of the ships being built out of sequence, rising raw material costs and labour shortages.
The original £250m per vessel contract to build the Type 31s was awarded to Babcock in 2019, with the first ships originally scheduled to launch in 2023.
Nicknamed the “Lidl Frigate” in reference to the intended low cost and relatively lightweight specification, the programme was seen as a key moment in UK defence procurement. The latest production techniques were intended to deliver ships on time and on budget, and avoid spiralling costs and delays which have dogged naval contracts in the past.
The low, fixed cost and the Royal Navy as a customer were hoped to attract export customers, further strengthening the programme.
Speaking to The Scotsman at the weekend, Sir Nick Hine, head of Babcock’s marine division, said the first of the class, HMS Venturer, would be late “for a whole bunch of reasons”. The company currently expects to deliver the first ship in 2028, with the Navy expecting all five vessels in service by the early 2030s.
Referring to the delays, Sir Nick said the company was “trying really hard to contain [them]”.
However, he added that the “biggest danger” was not late deliveries of the ships, but coming to the end of the contract without a future pipeline of work for the facilities and staff the company had invested in to build them, warning of the prospect of skills being lost.
Naval analysts have repeatedly warned of the costs associated with the historic “boom and bust” cycle to UK naval industry, with facilities and skills being built up, only to wither away as shipbuilding contracts end with no future work in sight.
An MOD spokesman said: “Type 31 warships will deliver a global presence, helping deter aggression and maintain UK security. We continue to work closely with Babcock to maximise delivery performance within the contract.”
The development comes as a new policy paper from the 878 Institute called for two of the Navy’s five Astute submarines to be “deployable and operational” at all times.
The think-tank – which says it focuses on “existential threats to Britain and America” – believes one of the Astutes should be patrolling the seas around the UK to deter Russian naval activity, while the other escorts the UK’s deployed Trident nuclear submarine.
The institute said that the Royal Navy is currently being “gripped by a critical but needless decline in strategic capacity”, highlighting that all of the UK’s attack submarines spent the summer laid up in harbour earlier this year.
Here’s what else you need to know before you start your day:
Wes Streeting, the defence secretary, is in Berlin today to discuss closer military cooperation, including missile development, with his German counterpart Boris Pistorius, Politico reports.
A key aim of the talks is the development of a missile which can hit targets 2,000km away without using US-made technology. The UK intends to build a terrain-hugging, radar-evading cruise missile by 2032, while Germany will develop a hypersonic model by 2035. The sticking point will be deciding which companies get the work.
MBDA and German-British startup Hypersonica could lead Berlin’s effort.
Chancellor John Healey has said his plan to raise defence spending to 3pc of economic output by 2030 is a “target”, rather than a promise.
He told BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that Britain spending 3.5pc of GDP by 2035 is a “commitment”, raising fears that most of the spending will be backloaded, or ramped up in later years rather than now.
He said: “I still remain absolutely certain we have to meet the rising threats that Britain faces, which is why I’ve confirmed that at the next Spending Review – that’s when we do our longer-term spending plans next year – we’ll set out a path not just to meet the country’s commitment to meeting Nato’s target of 3.5pc of spending in 2035, but a target date for 3pc in 2030 as well.”
German banks want Berlin to reconsider its decision not to join Canada’s Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB), dubbed the ‘bomb bank’, according to the Banker magazine.
Germany’s raft of smaller manufacturers could be disadvantaged if they are unable to tap the cheap funding the DSRB could provide, according to a warning from the German Savings Banks and Giro Association, alongside the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry and six other business associations.
Also in the last few hours:
Hypersonica, a German-British startup developing long-range missiles that reach speeds in excess of Mach 5, has raised €100m of funding.
Silicon Valley investors Lightspeed and General Catalyst led the fundraising round, the company said.
“Hypersonica’s Series B funding will accelerate development of its deep-strike systems, increase testing cadence and expand operations and reindustrialisation across Europe,” it said in a statement. Earlier this year, the company tested a prototype which reached Mach 6.
Worth reading in other news:
- UK talks up EU defence ties to counter tilt towards ‘Made in Europe’ weapons - Financial Times
- How Iran battered US bases and caused billions in damage - Wall Street Journal
- The fightback against Russia: how Britain is war-gaming an invasion - Times
In the US:
France’s Thales said it won a $53.9m US Navy contract for two remote mine-hunting modules and engineering support for them.
Additional orders could see the contract swell to $196m, Thales added. The remote-controlled vehicles can detect, classify and locate undersea mines at distance, minimising risk of them suffering damage from the weapons.
Talking point:
Millions of Ukrainian citizens were sent a false alert about an imminent Russian nuclear strike after a suspected cyber attack by Moscow.
Further warnings also suggested chemical attacks and street fighting were taking place and urged residents not to go outside. One warning was written in Russian, rather than Ukrainian, also suggesting a cyber attack.
Ukraine’s Air Force later said that its air alert app was hacked. In a post on Telegram, it said: “The Air Alert app appears to have been subjected to enemy influence. There is no radiation threat! Stay calm and follow our updates on our channel!”
Calendar
November 3, 2026, Uncrewed Systems Network Testing and Certification Conference, Swindon, UK
November 3–6, 2026, EURONAVAL 2026, Paris Nord Villepinte, France
November 4, 2026, Danish Aerospace Company Q3 Trading Update, Odense, Denmark
November 4–5, 2026, Readiness Europe – Defence Manufacturing Exhibition, Ulm, Germany
November 5, 2026, Rheinmetall AG Q3 2026 Financial Results, Düsseldorf, Germany
November 5, 2026, Leonardo S.p.A. Q3 2026 Results, Rome, Italy
December 2, 2026, BAE Systems plc Interim Dividend Payment & End-of-Year Operational Update, London, UK
December 3, 2026, Uncrewed Systems Network Funding, Investment and Exports Conference, Swindon, UK
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Rearmament is a free, daily newsletter packed with everything you need to know about the latest developments in the defence industry. It’s focused on matters in the UK and on the continent, as militaries and governments rearm.
Howard Mustoe, who writes it, is a former industry editor at the Daily and Sunday Telegraph. He has also worked for Bloomberg, the BBC and the Independent.
Alan Tovey, who edits it, is also a former Daily and Sunday Telegraph industry editor who previously worked across the national news industry.
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