The UK MoD has chosen Team Resolute – comprising Harland & Wolff, Navantia and BMT – as its preferred bidder for a £1.6 billion ($1.9 billion) project to build three new Fleet Solid Support (FSS) ships.
The decision represents a long-awaited conclusion to a programme vital for future UK Carrier Strike Group operations.
Navantia UK, a subsidiary of the Spanish shipbuilder, is prime contractor for the programme that will see finished ships assembled at Harland & Wolff’s Belfast shipyard.
Subject to final ministerial approval, the Team Resolute consortium comprising BMT, Harland & Wolff and Navantia UK has been selected ahead of Team UK to build the three Fleet Solid Support Ships. This decision has been announced earlier than expected and will prove to be controversial.
TR says the majority of the blocks and modules for the ships will be constructed at Harland & Wolff’s facilities in Belfast and Appledore, with components to be manufactured in their other delivery centres in Methil and Arnish. Final assembly for all three ships will be completed at Harland & Wolff’s shipyard in Belfast. Build work will also take place at Navantia’s shipyard in Cadiz in Spain, in a collaboration that allows for key skills and technology transfer from a shipbuilder with recent experience in naval auxiliary construction. Precisely how this work share will be split will be the most contentious aspect of this contract award.
Harland and Wolff will have to rely heavily on Navantia – the prime contractor of the consortium, having only a small workforce and no recent track record in naval shipbuilding. It appears TR is now committed to constructing a much larger percentage of each vessel in the UK than had initially been the case.
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