Chancellor John Healey will announce today that, subject to a commercial competition, the floating dry docks required for RN nuclear submarine maintenance at Faslane will be built in the UK. The decision backs domestic industry, although British yards have not built a floating dock in 60 years, Navy Lookout reports.
John Healey will use his keynote speech at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool to confirm the decision, citing the importance of the docks to national security and sovereign industry. They were presented as part of a wider maritime package that includes a new marine research vessel. The Defence Secretary, Wes Streeting, said the programme would modernise HMNB Clyde for decades and is in line with greater emphasis being placed on buying British to support UK defence whenever possible. No contract value or delivery schedule was announced, but design work and engagement with industry have been going on for some time. (The FT quotes £6Bn for the floating dock project; this is plausible as a total of £15.1Bn has been allocated for Faslane infrastructure over the next decade.)
The full report is here.
